Community Spotlight: Keep Manatee Beautiful Earns Keep America Beautiful President

BRADENTON – Keep Manatee Beautiful received Keep America Beautiful President’s Circle Award during Keep America Beautiful’s 2014 National Conference, which recently took place in Charlotte, N.C. The President’s Circle Award recognizes exemplary performance made by certified affiliates of the national nonprofit in building and sustaining vibrant communities.

In qualifying for a President’s Circle Award, Keep Manatee Beautiful has met Keep America Beautiful’s standards of merit by conducting an annual Community Appearance Index, calculating the affiliate’s cost/benefit ratio, and administering activities in the areas of litter prevention, recycling and waste reduction, and beautification and community greening.  Keep Manatee Beautiful is an eight-time award recipient since the President’s Award inception in 2003.

“One of Keep America Beautiful’s most effective tools is the work of our grassroots network of affiliate organizations, which has an impact on millions of Americans each year,” said Keep America Beautiful President and CEO Jennifer Jehn. “Our affiliates are providing real solutions to local problems caused by litter, graffiti, illegal dumping and other community blight by engaging volunteers of all ages in its effort to create a vibrant community.”

Litter Index:  The Keep America Beautiful Litter Index is a tool used by its affiliates that provides an indication of the success of each community’s anti-littering education and other anti-littering programs.  Each year, affiliates grade their communities during a drive-by examination of the same areas at the same time of the year.  A  team of community, business and government representatives conducted the visual analysis using a scoring system ranging from 1-4, with “1” rated as “no litter” to “4” being “extremely littered.” Manatee County received a 2013 overall score of 1.5 on this index.

Cost/Benefit Analysis: This measurement tool enables Keep America Beautiful affiliates to demonstrate their ability to leverage community resources by determining the dollar value returned to the community for every dollar invested by government.

About Keep Manatee Beautiful:  Keep Manatee Beautiful is a non-profit organization, and was established as the local Keep America Beautiful affiliate in 1991. We are dedicated to litter prevention, beautification and environmental improvement in Manatee County. This is accomplished by orchestrating a series of programs and events that: increase community awareness and education; and organize groups of volunteers who engage in litter cleanups, outdoor beautification projects and tree plantings. These programs rely on the hard work and dedication of volunteers, currently more than 7,000 annually!  Join us and the thousands of other partners across the county to Keep Manatee Beautiful!  To become involved, contact us at 941.795.8272, keep@manateebeautiful.com or www.manateebeautiful.com.

Keep Manatee Beautiful Board of Directors back row from left: Ed Flowers (Florida Forest Service), Treasurer Keith Banasiak (Waste Pro), David Friebus (Florida Dept. of Transportation), Jim LoPiccolo (Citizen), Dieter Zoellner (Manatee Chamber of Commerce / Dieter’s Sod & Landscaping), Vice Chairman Mike Bridges (Waste Mgmt.), David Pickup (Manatee Co. Gov.), Richard Bauer (1-800-GOT-JUNK), Willie Cooper (Boys & Girls Clubs), Deputy Russ Younger (Manatee Co. Sheriff’s Office), Brian Alford (Stantec Consulting Services), Captain Lorenzo Waiters (Manatee Co. Sheriff’s Office), Michelle Atkinson (Manatee Co. UF/IFAS Extension Service). Front row from left:  Exec. Dir. Ingrid McClellan, Secretary Molly Gummin (TLC5), Chairman Tom Hovanec (Tropicana), Billy Malfese  (City of Anna Maria), David Haile (Manatee Co. Gov.), Jim Black (Florida Power & Light Co.), Seth Kohn (City of Bradenton), Shed Cooper (Tuscany Lakes Apartments), Uganda Harris (Hope Family Services), Julianne Sunseri (Ad-VANCE Talent Solutions).

About Keep America Beautiful, Inc.

Keep America Beautiful is the nation’s leading nonprofit that brings people together to build and sustain vibrant communities. With a strong national network of 1,200 affiliates and partners including state recycling organizations, we work with millions of volunteers who take action in their communities. Keep America Beautiful offers programs and engages in public-private partnerships that help create clean, beautiful public places, reduce waste and increase recycling while educating generations of environmental stewards. Through our actions, we help create communities that are socially connected, environmentally healthy and economically sound. For more information, visit kab.org.