Young teens and adults lead Florin Road litter abatement efforts

Spending an early morning picking up parking lot trash piece by piece, only to return in a few days to it being just as litter-filled as before, is a defeating feeling, according to 19-year-old clean-up participant Darius Jacobs.

“Every day we come out, it's like we're starting over; all of our progress is gone,” he said.

Still, Jacobs says there is a reason for everyone to start caring about their community.

In South Sacramento, the Florin Road neighborhood is undergoing transformation led by the Florin Road Beautification Project and Sojourner Truth Museum. This collaborative project aims to revitalize the area that grapples with homelessness and urban challenges. Spearheaded by supervisor Timothy Pool, a crew of college interns, high school students, and young adults pick up trash five times a week, fostering community pride and enhancing the area's vibrancy. 

"We just hope to see our community cleaner," Jacobs said. “We're putting our best effort to get as many places as possible, but there are limits. So we need more people to come out and just show some love for their neighborhood."

Pool, the founder of the youth fishing program Hooked on Fishing Not on Violence, was asked by the Sojourner Truth Museum to organize the clean-up crew because of his involvement in youth group initiatives. His first recruiting effort was to ask his fishing group who wanted to participate.  

“I asked them if we had to pick up trash, would you do it?” Pool said, to which he got little response from his fishing group. Then Pool said, “‘We might have the opportunity for you guys to clean and get paid’ … out of 20 kids, only three wanted to do it for pay. So that shows you that even if you get paid to do it, you don't want to pick up anyone else's trash.”

17-year-old De’Andre Allen, a participant in the program, recalls the moment he was asked to join the clean-up program alongside Jacobs while participating in the fishing program, which he felt sounded unglamorous.

Darius Jacobs picks up broken glass in front of Goodwill on Florin Road as part of the litter abatement crew on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.Tony Rodriguez/CapRadio

“I don’t think I wanted to do it at first … it's picking up trash,” Allen said.”  “This [experience] definitely made me think … starting with us, it's really small, but if we get more people to come out here, it's just one small change that I can turn into something big.”

The Food Maxx and Goodwill parking lot on Florin Road is a weekly spot for the clean-up crew. They call it a “hot spot for trash.” The crew tackles discarded wrappers, glass shards, and furniture, addressing items left by the wind or dumped carelessly, showcasing their dedication to keeping Florin Road clean. If they find small pieces of trash, they pick them up with pincers, and for large items like furniture, they will take them to the curb for disposal and wait for the item to be picked up and disposed of by the city.   

Jones said that not everyone may notice the effort they make, but business owners and residents in the cleaning areas have expressed their appreciation.

The beautification project's ongoing efforts extend beyond litter reduction; this is part of broader initiatives to revitalize the entire neighborhood and rekindle a sense of community pride, according to April Breis, the Sacramento Art Program coordinator. 

“We want something … beautiful to look at, but [we’re going for] something that really helps the community to say, ‘I'm gonna take care of this; this is a beautiful reflection of my community now, and I want to take care of this,’” Breis said. 

Cleaning up the community is crucial to the project, according to Breis. Installing public art may be the most eye-catching part of the effort, but the initiative is collaborative; the art installations and the litter abatement work hand-in-hand, beautifying their surroundings and helping to instill pride in keeping your community clean. 

Funding for the participants' stipends comes through grant funding, part of the broader Clean California, which supports community beautification projects like the Florin Road Beautification Project. This grant has allowed for the beautification project to finance various initiatives.

Pool says that with more funding from the city for litter reduction, there can be more similar initiatives and an increased ability to offer jobs. 

“This is a really underserved area,” Pool said. “The funds don't come right into this area. You need major funds [to fix this issue] you can't keep putting a Band-Aid over this sore and expect it to heal. You have to have surgery to go down to the core of the problem and come out.”