It’s been a big week here at Keep Philadelphia Beautiful – we launched two new educational programs, and it’s only the first full week of 2015. (Some of that energy from New Year’s must have rubbed off on us!)

Keep Philadelphia Beautiful is proud to provide presentations on litter, recycling and composting to schools throughout the City. To grow our impact in 2015, we recruited and trained four volunteer teachers to go in to as many classrooms as possible. Teaching students about the environmental, social, and economic consequences of their waste – why it matters where you put your trash – is at the very core of our mission of helping to build and sustain beautiful communities. And we know our four volunteer teachers will assist us in reaching even more young Philadelphians and fostering the next generation of Philly-loving environmental stewards. Read more about this effort from our friends at Flying Kite Media.

This week, Keep Philadelphia Beautiful also started working with a small group of amazing Science Leadership Academy Beeber students to identify a community beautification issue, and then design, implement, and assess a program to address that concern. We can’t wait to see how this student-driven program unfolds, and to see how giving students ownership over their work nurtures continued civic engagement.

If this week is an indication of how the rest of 2015 will unfold, we couldn’t be more excited and more ready.