2024 Love Your Block Spring Cleanups Announced

Love Your Block is a Citywide community service event that invites community members to lead in hosting a neighborhood cleanup or joining a cleanup as an individual volunteer. Love Your Block neighborhood beautification projects include cleaning up trash on sidewalks and streets, park revitalization, and flower planting. The Love Your Block application is open for volunteers to sign up to become a host or join a neighborhood cleanup here. OCO will connect individuals with a cleanup site in their neighborhood once all sites are finalized.

“Love your Block cleanups are a perfect way to enjoy the upcoming spring weather while helping your local community look vibrant and clean,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “The City is proud to help supply the tools to host group cleanups and assist individuals in finding a Love Your Block volunteer opportunity near them.”

Cleanups will take place in every neighborhood of Boston over the course of three weekends. 

The dates are as follows:

Saturday, April 6: Allston/Brighton, Back Bay/Beacon Hill, Fenway/Kenmore, Mission Hill, South Boston, West Roxbury

Saturday, April 20: Charlestown, East Boston, North End/West End/Wharf District, Chinatown/Downtown/Leather District, South End/Bay Village

Saturday, April 27: Roxbury, Mid-Dorchester, Dorchester, Hyde Park, Mattapan, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain

The Love Your Block program was first created in 2015 with a three-year grant awarded to the City of Boston by Cities of Service. After the grant's expiration in 2018, Love Your Block became a permanent City program under the Mayor’s Office of Civic Organizing (within the Community Engagement Cabinet). This year, OCO will partner with Boston Public Library and Boston Centers for Youth & Families who will serve as host sites for community members to pick up and drop off cleanup tools. All sites are listed on the Love Your Block sign up form. Tool collection is scheduled from 9:00 -10:00 a.m., with returns to the same location between 12 - 2 p.m.

"Having served as East Boston's liaison, I've seen the transformative power of this initiative firsthand,” said Director of Civic Organizing Nathalia Benitez-Perez. “Love Your Block empowers residents to take charge of their community's well-being through collective action and beautification efforts. I'm thrilled to carry forward this tradition of fostering empowerment and unity."

In past Love Your Block cleanups, neighborhood groups have picked up litter from streets and sidewalks, beautified local parks, cleaned up vacant lots, urban wilds, and more. For tips on how to plan and host a cleanup in your neighborhood, OCO has created a helpful guide.

“In 2022, fourteen volunteers from Prospect Hill and Mt. Hope neighborhoods of Roslindale turned out to clean up the pedestrian walkways of the Blakemore Street Bridge,” said Friends of Blakemore Bridge Co-Founder Meri Bond. “By the end of the day not only had they removed the leaves, litter, bottles and nips that had been accumulating along the Bridge for years, they had enjoyed meeting one another and working together for a common purpose.” 

The Office of Civic Organizing will provide volunteers with cleanup tools including trash bags, gloves, brooms, rakes, trash pickers, and a Love Your Block t-shirt.  Hosts leading a cleanup can request tools until Friday, March 22 at 5:00 p.m. here. 

“Love Your Block is an event that I look forward to the Mayor’s Office of Civic Organizing leading every year,” said Brianna Millor, Chief of the Community Engagement Cabinet. “This is an effort for our Cabinet alongside Boston residents, community leaders, and volunteers to beautify every Boston neighborhood together. I look forward to seeing everyone in April to keep our neighborhoods clean.”

ABOUT THE OFFICE OF CIVIC ORGANIZING

The Office of Civic Organizing is committed to collaborative partnerships and programs that promote engagement, awareness, and service in communities throughout the City of Boston.