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Executive Director Report

The Keep Mississippi Beautiful Affiliates made MISSISSIPPI proud in Baltimore, during the Keep America Beautiful National Conference. The exceptional work these individuals do in their communities showed with the many awards that were brought home. Mississippi had 30 Affiliates in the prestigious Keep America Beautiful President Circle, which was also announced at the national conference. All of our Affiliates motivate Neeley and myself to continue to do our best and work hard so that every Mississippian can live in a clean, beautiful place! 

Please attend our Legislative Day Ice Cream Social at the Capitol, February, 27 and see for yourself why we have the best Keep America Beautiful Network as they will be showing our state legislators projects in their communities. 

Many of you are in the midst of planning your signature Great American Cleanups, and I am so happy to say-YES- we will be getting Glad Bags to help with litter cleanups. Be sure to watch for more information on the shipment date for Mississippi. All communities are urged to request bags and help fight LITTER.

Be happy, spring is just around the corner.

Sarah
Keep Mississippi Beautiful
Now Accepting Award Nominations
We are now accepting nominations for our 2019 awards, which recognize litter prevention, recycling and beautification accomplishments in 2018.

Nominations are due March 15, 2019. Awards will be presented at Keep Mississippi Beautiful Awards Ceremony on  April 25, 2019  in Jackson.

Nomination forms can be found HERE.

Pictured here is last year's Louise Godwin Award recipient, Gay Austin, KMB Board Member and incoming National Garden Club President.
Keep America Beautiful National Conference
Baltimore, Maryland

Another inspiring national conference is in the books and of course Mississippi took home a great amount of awards including the most KAB President's Circle Award Winners than any other state!

This year we had representation from Keep Mississippi Beautiful, Keep Copiah County Beautiful, Keep the Rez Beautiful, Keep Pearl Beautiful, Keep Canton Beautiful, Keep Starkville Beautiful, Keep Ridgeland Beautiful, Keep Simpson County Beautiful, Keep Pike County Beautiful, Keep Tupelo Beautiful, Keep Harrison County Beautiful, Keep Natchez-Adams County Beautiful, and Mississippi Department of Transportation.

Keep America Beautiful Award Winners:

SUE SMITH PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP AWARD, for building and sustaining an exceptional affiliate.
Jeannine May, Keep the Rez Beautiful
Jeannine serves as the Affiliate Director of Keep the Rez Beautiful, known for its efforts to improve the water quality and beauty of the Ross Barnett Reservoir and its shores. Jeannine is the fifth Mississippian to win this award since it was created in the 1980s.

YOUNG PROFESSIONAL AWARD , which recognizes an outstanding volunteer, under the age of 40, who demonstrates exceptional leadership in helping their community.
Dr. Brett Rushing, Mississippi State University Extension Center
Dr. Rushing was integral in KMB's launch of the Wildflower Trails of Mississippi project, and has worked with KMB and KAB affiliates across the state to support wildflower plantings. Brett is the second Mississippian to win this award since it was created in 2013.

BILL NASH AWARD, which honors an affiliate less than three years old for exceptional success.
Keep Starkville Beautiful
Since its launch in 2017, Keep Starkville Beautiful has made significant investments to end littering, beautify public spaces, and improve recycling. Accepting the award was Affiliate Director, Amy Counterman. Keep Starkville Beautiful is the third Mississippi affiliate to win this award in recent years.

AFFILIATE INNOVATION AWARD
Keep Ridgeland Beautiful- Partnership with Ridgeland Chamber for zinnia project. Accepting the award was Affiliate Director Jan Richardson and board members Ginger Cocke, Rachel Brantley, and Lea Anne Stacy.

STATE AFFILIATE INNOVATION AWARD
Keep Mississippi Beautiful- Partnership with Pepsi and Dak Prescott for "CAN IT" campaign.

STATE AGENCY RECOGNITION
Mississippi Department of Transportation for its ongoing support of Keep Mississippi Beautiful and litter prevention efforts across the state.

STATE AFFILIATE RECOGNITION DIAMOND LEVEL:
Keep Mississippi Beautiful
Mississippi's 2019 Great American Cleanup
State-Wide Kickoff

Congratulations to Keep Magee Beautiful for being selected as the kickoff site at McNair Springs Park which will take place on Saturday, April 6th.

Stay tuned for next month's e-newsletter for more information about this project!
KMB Legislative Day
Please mark your calendar for Keep Mississippi Beautiful's Annual Legislative Day on February 27, 2019.

We ask KMB Affiliates to join us and invite their legislators to meet us in the Capitol Rotunda from 1-3 PM for an ice cream social to learn about KMB!

This will provide our Affiliates to share their story to their legislators. We look forward seeing everyone!

Please remember to RSVP to neeley@keepmsbeautiful.com.

Pictured here is KMB Advisory Member, Senator Lydia Chassaniol at last year's Legislative Day.
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Keep Mississippi Beautiful /
Keep Alabama Beautiful Conference

The 2019 Keep Mississippi Beautiful/Keep Alabama Beautiful conference will take place October 10-11 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. We will be highlighting our Keep Hattiesburg Beautiful Affiliate.
Jackson Area for Children Under Six Conference
Keep Mississippi Beautiful had the opportunity to partner with JACUS on Saturday, January 26 for a conference for preschool teachers in the Jackson area.

At this conference, teachers were educated on watersheds, litter prevention, recycling, and pollinators and how to incorporate these lessons in their classrooms from our friends with Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, Watershed Harmony, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science and Keep Mississippi Beautiful.

Wildflower Trails of Mississippi
It may not be planting season, but Keep Mississippi Beautiful has been busy working on expanding our trail!

On January 17, KMB Assistant Director, Neeley Jones was the Grenada Garden Club's guest speaker and will be working with them during the next few months on selecting a site and getting ready to prep the grounds for the planting.

January 23-24, KMB had an exhibit at the Mississippi Association of Conservation Districts' conference sharing our pollinator program to farmers and conservationists.

Beautifying Meridian and Lauderdale County
Keep Meridian/Lauderdale County Beautiful hosted a meeting with speaker Jeff McManus, The University of Mississippi's Director of Landscape Services who has received national recognition including "America's Most Beautiful College Campus" by USA Today.

McManus spoke about transforming the mindset of his employees, much like we as Mississippian's need to think about beautifying their community. "Everybody is a part of the solution. Litter patrol isn't just in your front yard, its wherever you see it".

To read more about the meeting, click here.

KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL GRANTS AVAILABLE
Cigarette Litter Prevention Program
Grant Deadline: March 25, 2019
The application period for the 2019 Cigarette Litter Prevention Program Grant Program will open on Monday, Feb. 25, 2019 on your KAB Dashboard. The deadline to apply is slated for is 11:59 pm EST on Monday, March 25, 2019.

Stand for the Land Cigarette Receptacles
Rolling Deadline
Keep America Beautiful affiliates and partner organizations have an opportunity to participate in a Philip Morris USA initiative to place 10,000 litter stands to collect cigarette butts in communities nationwide and educate adult smokers 21+ on the importance of disposing of their cigarette butts properly. 

Adult smokers are being given the opportunity to enter locations (city and zip code) on a map to indicate where they would like to see a litter stand installed. As stands are placed, an interactive map populates featuring local stories and showing locations that have been selected.

Keep America Beautiful and Philip Morris USA request your help in finding locations to place litter stands to provide opportunities for adult smokers to dispose of their cigarette butts properly. Keep America Beautiful Affiliates are able to request free litter stands (with no shipping cost to you) by emailing litterstands@kab.org .

Requirements: 
  • Install the litter stand(s) in an accessible place (e.g., outside entrance to retail location, or transition point where adult smokers commonly dispose of cigarette butts). Hardware is included to mount each receptacle.
  • Maintain litter stand(s) (e.g., regularly empty cigarette butts into garbage).
  • Share the GPS coordinates of each litter stand's location with KAB to include on the interactive map. GPS coordinates can be identified in several ways:
  • Enter the litter stand location/address into https://www.latlong.net/ and record coordinates.
  • Using Google Maps, right-click the place on the map. Select "What's Here?". At the bottom of the map, a card with coordinates will appear.


Keep America Beautiful's Community Restoration and Resiliency Fund 
Rolling Deadline 
Keep America Beautiful's Community Restoration and Resiliency Fund benefits Keep America Beautiful Affiliates that serve communities directly affected by natural and environmental disasters. The fund provides immediate and long-term support for initial and ongoing cleanup efforts and helps rebuild vital public spaces: parks, greenways, community gateways, Main Street/downtown areas, open spaces and more. 
Keep the Rez Beautiful's RezWay Event
The 8 th  annual Project Rezway is the Keep the Rez Beautiful’s popular annual recycle fashion show held at the Bill Waller Craft Center in Ridgeland (formerly the Mississippi Craft Center) on  Thursday, March 28, 2019 . This event promotes recycling by showing how items can be reused and upcycled in creative and attractive ways. Contestants compete for cash prizes.

For more information visit keeptherezbeautiful.org .

Future Dates:

Feb. 27 KMB Legislative Day
Mar. 15 KMB Award Nominations Due
Mar. 28 Keep the Rez Beautiful's Rezway Event
Apr. 6 Great American Cleanup State Wide Kickoff with Keep Magee Beautiful
Apr. 25 KMB Annual Awards, Country Club of Jackson

To add an event to our "Future Dates" email neeley@keepmsbeautiful.com