A Keep Denton Beautiful "Yard of the Month." (2010-11)
| Upcoming KDB Events |
|
Great American Cleanup - March 28, 2015 Denton Redbud Festival - April 18, 2015 Annual Tree GiveAway - October 25, 2014 |
| Website |
| www.kdb.org |
| www.facebook.com/KeepDentonBeautiful |
| Contact |
| (940) 349 8737, [email protected] |
Keep Denton Beautiful, Inc. (KDB) is a community-based volunteer organization whose mission is to inspire individuals to take greater responsibility for creating a clean and beautiful city through litter prevention, reduction of waste, and community beautification.
KDB is an all volunteer, non-profit organization that focuses on the following:
- Litter reduction strategies
- Beautification and community improvement activities
- "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" practices
Although KDB is a non-profit organization, the organization maintains a close affiliation with the City of Denton—KDB staff are employees of the City of Denton Solid Waste Department. They are responsible for assisting Keep Denton Beautiful, Inc. in achieving its mission through the facilitation and coordination of its programs, projects, and events. Keep Denton Beautiful, Inc. is also an affiliate member of the statewide organization Keep Texas Beautiful and the nationwide Keep America Beautiful.
History
In 1987, the Denton City Council created a Blue Ribbon Citizen's Task Force to make recommendations regarding beautification of major city entrances and other city beautification efforts. The task force recommended that the city create a board responsible for making recommendations to the city about issues and ordinances affecting the appearance and the environment of the city, particularly the city’s entryways.
As a result, the Beautification Advisory Commission was created in 1991. The name was changed to the Keep Denton Beautiful Board in 1992. In 1996, with the earlier addition of twelve board members, the approval of articles of incorporation in 1995, and the receipt of 501(C)(3) tax-exempt status in 1996, the Keep Denton Beautiful Board became Keep Denton Beautiful, Inc.
In 1996, the Keep Denton Beautiful Board was a 23-member board with 11 Council-appointed members and 12 community-based members. In June 2000, the board voted to become a stand-alone 501(C)(3) and made a legal request to the city of Denton to dissolve the advisory board aspect (council appointments) of the organization.
KDB Events
Great American Cleanup
Each year, Denton community members join Keep Denton Beautiful in a nationwide effort with Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful by volunteering in the Great American Cleanup (GAC). Denton's event includes a citywide cleanup effort, followed by a Volunteer Party with children's activities, environmental education booths, and a free lunch for volunteers. Also in conjunction with this event, the City of Denton Landfill holds an annual free landfill day for city of Denton residents.
Over the years, over a million volunteers have collected many thousands of pounds of trash from the streets, waterways, and neighborhoods of Denton. This is the largest volunteer event hosted by Keep Denton Beautiful and volunteer groups of all ages participate, including Boy & Girl Scouts troops, college fraternities and sororities, civic groups, and representatives from City Council.
Denton Redbud Festival
TheDenton Redbud Festival is the official Arbor Day event for the City of Denton, Texas. In addition to being an Arbor Day celebration event, the Redbud Festival also includes a Home and Garden Show with more than 60 booths showcasing a wide variety of gardening, landscaping, and home improvement products.
This event is free to attend. Redbud trees are available for sale at the festival.
Tree Giveaway
Each year, in celebration of national Make a Difference Day, Keep Denton Beautiful gives away free trees to City of Denton residents at the Annual Community Tree GiveAway.
KDB Programs
In addition to its three annual special events, Keep Denton Beautiful administers a number of programs in the Denton community related to litter reduction, community beautification and reduction of waste.
Environmental Education Grants
Each year, Keep Denton Beautiful awards a small number of grants to local educators to help them teach children about nature and the importance of environmental stewardship. The program funds hands-on environmental learning projects such as butterfly gardens, school vegetable gardens, outdoor learning centers, and more.
NeighborWoods Tree Planting Program
The NeighborWoods Program provides local neighborhoods with native and adapted trees through a neighborhood-based application process. The trees awarded through this program help to fill in the gaps of the urban forest.
The Tree Conservation Fund was established to give the citizens of Denton the opportunity to directly finance reforestation efforts in the community. In the fall of 1998, the Public Utilities Board approved this voluntary-participation program and placed it on the City of Denton's monthly utility bill, to allow residents an easy way to support community reforestation.
To celebrate Arbor Day and Denton's status as the Redbud Capitol of Texas, a community wide volunteer program was officially created and named Children's Arbor Day. Every spring this program distributes Redbud seedlings to all third grade students at each public and private school in Denton.
The overall goal of the Yards of the Month Award Program is to recognize individual homes and businesses whose property exemplifies the vision of Keep Denton Beautiful.
Adopt-a-Spot gives civic-minded individuals, organizations, and businesses the opportunity to participate in creating a cleaner, more beautiful Denton. Groups may choose to adopt a park, a drainage way or a city street. The goal is to designate that area as *theirs* to keep clean. Once a group has conducted two of six required annual clean-ups, an Adopt-a-Spot sign with the organization's name or Acronym on it will be installed at their adopted location.
