Facebook Join My List Logo
Executive Director Report
Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.  Thank you to all of our affiliates that have been having Great American Cleanup events in this heat.  This takes true dedication to brave Mississippi heat.  Also, our MDOT friends work tirelessly keeping our roadways across the state picked up, please let them know how much we appreciate them. We are seeing the beautiful daylily bulbs that many of you planted in your communities.  Our Keep Mississippi Beautiful Affiliates and their volunteers are continuously working toward beautifying their communities.  I hope if you have the opportunity to see the beautiful wildflowers that our friend Jeff Wilson planted along Lakeland Drive at the Mississippi Ag Museum – you are in for a treat – they are beautiful.  THANKS Jeff, for joining our Wildflower Trails of Mississippi program!!
  
Neeley and I have enjoyed our time this summer with teachers across Mississippi participating in our Teacher Workshops.  These men and women are true servants and believe me, they do not get thanked enough for what they do on a daily basis.  They are doing a terrific job of teaching our youth on how to take care of our environment.

Please be on the lookout for our new Keep Mississippi Beautiful Billboards – we want litterbugs to get our message. Let us hear how you like them.

More than ever people are enjoying outdoors and what better way than to visit our beautiful Mississippi State Parks.  We are excited about our partnership with Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. We would like to see people and organizations adopt a campground, but mostly help us keep these parks beautiful and litter free.  Keep Mississippi Beautiful had a great meeting recently with MSWFP and MSU Extension Inland Cleanup planning this great new partnership.  Neeley and I just added visiting as many Mississippi parks and campgrounds to our bucket list this summer.  Please join us on this adventure. 

Happy Fourth of July to everyone – whether you are spending this wonderful holiday with family and friends or watching fireworks – enjoy and be safe – but remember:

KEEP MISSISSIPPI BEAUTIFUL!! And help us KEEP MISSISSIPPI CLEAN & GREEN!!

Sarah
Keep America Beautiful Reports Due August 1!
Reminder for Affiliates that your Keep America Beautiful Annual Report is due August 1st. This reporting period is for activities from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. Your Annual Report can be completed at kab.org.

Annual Dues were emailed and if you did not receive an invoice, please reach out to Grace Keegan at gkeegan@kab.org.

If you would like to schedule an appointment via phone or in person for help, please email Neeley at neeley@keepmsbeautiful.com.

UPCOMING WEBINAR ON REPORTING:
When:  Monday, July 12, 2021
Time:   1 PM
Join Keep America Beautiful Regional Directors Grace Keegan, Isaac Nicholson, and Jason Smith to learn more about Dashboard reporting best practices. This webinar will include tips for completing the Affiliate Annual Report on the Dashboard as well as updates on programs and program deadlines.
Open to all affiliates. Register
2021 Keep MS/AL Beautiful Conference
This year's Keep MS/AL Beautiful conference will take place in Birmingham, AL on August 26-27. The host hotel will be Home2Suites Hilton Birmingham Downtown and rates are $99/night.

Conference Registration and Hotel Reservation information will be sent out at a later date.
Keep America Beautiful Releases New Litter Study
Keep America Beautiful has released the 2020 National Litter Study. This Study includes groundbreaking research on litter along waterways. The Study shows that the problem of litter is slightly greater along waterways (25.9 billion pieces of litter) than it is along roadways (23.7 billion pieces). Key findings include:

  • Nearly 50 billion pieces of litter along U.S. roadways and waterways
  • Slightly more litter along waterways (25.9B) than roadways (23.7B)
  • 152 items for each U.S. resident
  • More than 2,000 pieces of litter per mile (both roadway and waterway)
  • 90% of people surveyed believe litter is a problem in their state
  • 6 billion pieces more than 4 inches in size
  • Most littered item remains cigarette butts, but this litter is down almost 70%
  • 207.1M PPE items littered
Individual action = collective impact. Join the Keep America Beautiful challenge to create a litter-free country. Simply pick up 152 pieces of litter from your neighborhood, local park, or beach. If every American joins the challenge at the same time, there will be no more litter on the ground unless someone littered again, according to the Keep America Beautiful 2020 National Litter Study. #152andyou
Wildflower Trails of Mississippi
There's a new Wildflower Trails of Mississippi site and it is a sight to see!!!

The Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum has planted wildflowers at the entrance of the museum along Lakeland Drive in Jackson and inside the grounds by their vegetable garden.

More photos can be found on our Facebook Page.
Future Dates:
August 26-27 Mississippi/Alabama Conference, Birmingham, AL
November 15-17 Keep America Beautiful Conference, Washington D.C.
To add an event to our "Future Dates" email neeley@keepmsbeautiful.com