Mayor Gavin Newsom: Keep SF Clean and Green

Can Your Community Meet the Challenge?
San Francisco is considered by many to be one of the greatest cities in America. Keeping our city clean and green is vital to maintaining this distinct honor.

As mayor, I am dedicated to working with businesses and communities to support innovative projects that will make San Francisco's streets and public spaces vibrant and healthy. I believe green and clean neighborhoods are essential to the quality of life, economic development, social fabric, and environmental health of San Francisco.

Together, we can make San Francisco a clean and green city that residents are proud to call home and a city that keeps visitors coming back year after year.

With that, I challenge every community to get involved and do their part to keep San Francisco clean and green.

One way you can help is to take part in our Community Challenge Grant Program (CCG.) The goals of the Program are to promote greening of public spaces, such as medians, sidewalks and community gardens; engage residents and businesses directly in this work; and use greening projects as a catalyst to get neighborhoods working together to address local issues.

Formerly known as the Neighborhood Beautification Fund, the CCG provides resources to local residents, businesses, non-profits and other community groups to make improvements to their neighborhoods. The CCG focuses on projects that directly engage residents and businesses in creating green spaces, community gathering places, public art and other neighborhood amenities.

The program is an important tool for enabling communities to take the lead in conducting small-scale improvements, and is a critical component of my "Livable City Initiative."

Apply for Challenge Grants That Can Empower Your Neighborhood Groups of residents or businesses, community groups and non-profit organizations are encouraged to apply. Neighborhood residents or business owners must apply through a nonprofit organization. If you need help satisfying this requirement, you can contact Project Manager Lanita Henriquez at 554-4830.

Sustaining neighborhood improvements is just as important as building them, and to that end, the program requires a five-year maintenance plan and requires groups to match our contribution with volunteer labor, donated materials and supplies.

The grant program will fund projects from $10,000 to $100,000. The application deadline is Monday, Dec. 18. Please call 554-4830 or log on to www.sfccgp.org to get more information about the application timeline and criteria for awards.

Gavin Newsom is the mayor of San Francisco.