Keep Akron Beautiful

“Form 990 is reviewed by the finance committee of the board of directors. It is then filed after that review.”

“Board members are asked to sign a conflict of interest policy annually. The policy and all disclosures are monitored by the board as a whole.”

“The board of directors approve the compensation of the president and ceo based on current market studies and available resources.”

“Documents are available on request.”

“1)26,027 service hours from 6,417 volunteers - a dedication to beautification 2)41.10 of value for every 1 donated based on volunteer hours - sweet, sweet sweat equity.”

“The organization implements public awareness campaigns to promote individual responsibility for taking care of our environment and conserving natural resources. Our most popular program is sowing beauty, growing pride through public beautification at 26 professional flowerscape sites downtown and the over 60 volunteer-gardened adopt-a-sites, located in all ten city wards. Pictured is last years flowerscape at the matthews hotel monument. Just as professional artwork limits graffiti, flowers work to curb littering. As you can see, we have had to reduce our number of flowerscapes, due to lack of funding. Our beautiful gardens foster a sense of community pride which contributes to our communitys overall positive mental health. In a study done by dr. Nooshin razani, a pediatrician and clinical scientist in the san francisco bay area, in 2019, he stated: if we can agree that access to the rest of nature is fundamental to our humanity, to our very being, it could open the way to a renewed ecological solidarity- an intertwining of human rights and the rights of all nature. In saving the earth, we save ourselves. As the world emerges from the pandemic that has reminded us of our critical need for a healthy planet (and a healthy akron), and the fact that too many people lack access to safe, outdoor green spaces, keep akron beautiful is dedicated to providing these places and spaces for people to visit in our community, every day. Kab continues to plant our urban gardens. Throughout the city we have installed hundreds of native species that will provide food and habitat for our pollinators and other local wildlife. We encourage our adopt-a-sites and any other organization we collaborate with to be earth-minded stewards of the land - which means do not do harm to the land. We installed phase one of a pollinator garden in downtown akron, this fall, and phase two is slated for early june. We are working to keep bees in our city we are experimenting with educational gardening, which is a way to enlighten our community on the various benefits of gardens. During our 2019 & 2020 growing season, we planted edible gardens that were designed to show our public that gardens can serve multiple functions: food for people, provide beauty, and help our pollinators. Kab wants to show the akron community that gardens can help people and the natural environment. Additionally, we have started to plant more perennials, so that we are not taking the plants out of the ground each year. We want to save our resources and create beauty that can come back each year. The keep akron beautiful team engaged in many side projects to inspire beautification and litter prevention citywide. From the city of akron parks week, a week-long event where keep akron beautiful worked with the mayors office to install fencing, mulching, permaculture gardens and more at elizabeth park in akrons northside, this may. Additionally, we are working with many corporate groups this summer to install flowers and pick up litter. Kab has adapted to the needs of the community and has been able to spread beatification in a variety of ways, through various groups of people. In 2020, keep akron beautifuls litter collection and illegal dumping removal program worked on expressways, neighborhood roadsides, and in city of akron parks, to remove litter. The litter crews removed 14.91 tons of trash from public land, 7.8 tons of dumping and 359 illegally dumped tires. A total of 205 workers, alongside our daily collection coordinators, william ford and daniel marville, helped make this happen. Community improvement also requires providing the means for eradication of graffiti on public property within a 48-hour window (in weather above 50 degrees) to discourage its return and show the community that someone cares. Keep akron beautiful leads the way with removing graffiti and paint vandalism with our new graffiti power-washing system that has removed gang tags, profanity, and misplaced art from 14 pub”

“Contract labor 62,060 4,435 0 outside contract services 0 3,327 0 total 62,060 7,762 0”