”Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.” -Bill Nye
Our growing Affiliate Network is home to many diverse organizations. On a day to day basis, Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB) sees the success of each organization in big and small ways. While one affiliate is winning a recycling grant, another is on the news promoting their cleanup, or even posting their first Instagram post or attending a webinar to further expand their knowledge base.
One of your greatest assets is each other. If you ever find yourself in unfamiliar territory or asking an affiliated-related question, we can guarantee that an affiliate has been in a similar situation or has had the same question before. This is why KTB is always looking for ways to bring our affiliates together, whether it be on our affiliate Forum, through our Affiliate of the Month web page or through Share-A-Project.
Share-A-Project is an affiliate-only resource, where we share successful projects Affiliates have completed. These projects are submitted by you, and we update the page seasonally with new features. Visit the page to get inspired by successful, proven program ideas in local communities and to learn about what some of your fellow affiliates are up to. We also invite you to submit your own projects, so that all our affiliates can continue to learn and share. Projects include categories in beautification, cleanups, gardens, grant and fundraising, litter, recycling, waste reduction and youth and education.
One great example of a beautification project is the 2016 Strawn Beautification Project, where Keep Strawn Beautiful partnered with the Strawn Booster Club and Mt. Marion Cemetery to plant trees at the southern entrance of the city and created a water efficient, drip irrigation system. The results included involving numerous local organizations and a school in the project, participation from over 30 volunteers, a huge improvement in the appearance of a highly visible area of town and continued interest in up-keeping the area from members of the town. Learn more about Keep Strawn Beautiful’s planning, budget and implementation of this project HERE.
A great example of a youth and education project is the Alvin Outdoor Learning Center. Keep Alvin Beautiful restored a large garden and greenhouse, including an aquaponics area developed by a local teacher. They partnered with the local AgriLife Extension to hold student classes in the greenhouses. Over 200 third and fifth grade students have participated in the Learn, Grow, Eat and Go class and the Egg to Chick classes. Alvin attributes its success to the students’ ability to get their hands in the dirt, seeing and tasting the fruits of their labor. Learn more about this project HERE.
These are just a few of the projects on our Share-A-Project page. We encourage you to visit the page, learn from your fellow affiliates and get inspired to enact a new project in your community. We also hope you continue to network with your fellow affiliates and continue to learn from each other.
Blog Post Written By Brianna Fuller
