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In October, Materials for the Arts was contacted by NYC
Community Cleanup a project of the Center for Court Innovation which is responsible
for a new citywide initiative called CleanUp NYC. This initiative was designed
to address neighborhood hot spots and eye sores. CleanUp NYC puts low-level offenders
(arrested for minor offenses such as vandalism, shoplifting, and public
drunkenness) to work repairing conditions of disorder throughout New York
City. Their goal is to create meaningful community service work projects
that emphasize the values of immediacy (tying a crime to its consequences);
visibility (showing New Yorkers that the justice system is responding to neighborhood
problems); and accountability (ensuring high compliance rates).
On Wednesday, December 9, 2009 a small group of individuals
arrived in the warehouse on a cold and rainy day; CleanUp NYC is currently looking
for more partners with indoor projects during the winter months. Coincidentally, we happened to have just the
right project.
Our supply of paint has diminished leaving the shelving
emptier than usually however, this worked in our favor because it encouraged us
to looking for a group of volunteers to clean the paint room shelves. With speed and efficiency this group
completed their task in two hours. Our
paint room has never look (or smelled) cleaner!
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