The City of Goleta’s Environmental Services Division is announcing the return of Beautify Goleta, which will now include neighborhood volunteer cleanups to keep all of Goleta healthy and safe year-round! Beautify Goleta originally helped residents clean their homes and yards with free bulky items collections, but starting this spring, Beautify Goleta will also host Saturday morning cleanup events in neighborhoods throughout the city, generally every other month.

Captains Needed!

For these events to work, we need the help of Neighborhood Captains – clubs, businesses, community groups, or individuals – that will coordinate with the City to organize and run their local cleanups. Being a Neighborhood Captain is a great opportunity to:

• Serve as a steward of your neighborhood and leader in your community
• Keep your neighborhood, parks, creeks, and beaches clean and beautiful year-round
• Get to know your neighbors better, and network with others
• Be recognized in City press releases, the Monarch Press, and social media campaigns
• Increase the community presence of you or your organization

We also welcome having co-captains in each neighborhood! See the map below for current areas, although areas are subject to change.

Already hosting your own cleanups?

If you or your organization already have your own cleanup events, great! We can still highlight the great work you’re already doing and get the word out about your cleanups (and avoid redundancy). In Goleta, we are lucky to have organizations like the Environmental Defense Center, Okeanos Swimwear, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Explore Ecology, and Goleta Rotary Clubs who have been effectively organizing cleanups for many years! Our goal is to complement the great work already being done and fill in gaps as needed.

What’s Next:

Cleanup Leaders Meeting- Beautify Goleta will have its first ever Neighborhood Captains meeting in January, which will also include leaders from existing cleanup efforts. We will be giving more details about cleanup logistics and will also be reaching out for thoughts about making the program fun and engaging, before, during, and after events.

First Event- Our first new and improved Beautify Goleta cleanup event is targeted for March and will then generally occur every other month. If you are interested in leading as a Neighborhood Captain, please sign up here.

Neighborhood Spotlight- while Captains will be the leaders in their area year-round, the City will be highlighting various neighborhoods on a rotating basis, based on need. The neighborhood spotlight will provide additional volunteers to the area, as well as the free bulky items collection and dumpster service previously part of Beautify Goleta.

All Volunteers Welcome!

Of course, we could not have Beautify Goleta without Cleanup Volunteers as well! Check out last month’s Monarch Press article here and sign up as a general volunteer here.