WORCESTER, Mass. – Standing under the green canopy of a tree at Elm Park, Miranda Hotham scanned her street assignment list. She was wearing a bright green T-shirt with the words Worcester Green Corps painted in green and blue lettering on the front. She looked up as Mason Rainford, sporting the same shirt, approached.

“Am I in group three?” Rainford asked.

“No, you’re in group four,” said Hotham, who is the Worcester Green Corps coordinator for the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. She directed Rainford’s attention to a pile of gloves, rolls of trash bags, and a row of hand-held trash pick-up tools near a tent. “The gloves are there and you can take a roll of bags and take some pickers and hit the streets along the sidewalks. Your group is going down Sever Street, Fruit Street and Dayton Street.”

Worcester Green Corps T-Shirt. Photo by Kevin Saleeba.

As one of five district managers, Rainford, originally from West Boylston, Massachusetts, and entering his sophomore year at Ohio University in the fall, is leading a crew of high schoolers as they pick up litter and beautify the city this summer.

“I’ve had several jobs before, like stocking groceries,” he said. “There are a lot of jobs that I don’t feel have a good sense of purpose, and I feel like here I can actually get out and improve the lives of people living in Worcester.”

Recent improvements to Worcester’s downtown infrastructure — most notably the city’s investment in Polar Park and the improvements to Kelly Square — have thrusted the city into a competition with Portland, Maine, and Providence, Rhode Island, as a local destination spot. But according to Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tim Murray, while the city has seen an increase in private investment that has created jobs, expanded the tax base and established positive economic activity, that growth has also led to an increase in trash and litter.

“It’s not just the job of the city to ensure we have clean and safe communities, but rather, everyone has a role to play,” he said. “Everyone has a responsibility, and everyone wants to live in a city they can enjoy free of litter and trash.”

In response, the Chamber, the United Way of Central Massachusetts and the City of Worcester have established the Worcester Green Corps (WGC), a sustainable, year-round public-private partnership to clean and beautify the city. Murray recently reported that the Chamber has been hearing consistent complaints about the amount of trash across various neighborhoods and environmentally sensitive locations. On Tuesday, July 6, the WGC officially kicked-off their campaign to solve the litter problem by simply picking up the trash.

“The Worcester Green Corps plays an important role in the new comprehensive Clean City initiative, improving the quality of life for residents while providing another avenue of summer employment and career development for young leaders,” said Worcester City Manager Edward M. Augustus, Jr. “The public-private partnership between the organizations crusading the program is a shining example of how our community consistently works together to achieve common sustainable goals for the greater good.”

The group formed the WGC and hired Hotham, a recent Clark University graduate, as the year-round coordinator to spearhead the pilot program. Hotham, who grew up in central Maine, first came to Worcester as an undergraduate at Clark University in 2015. Moving from the backwoods of Maine to a city came as a bit of a culture shock to her.

“This was my first move into a big city, so it was a little overwhelming for me at first,” she said. “I didn’t even know how to use a parking meter. When I first came to Worcester, the very first day I drove down here, I remember I thought there was a lot of trash.”

Northbridge High sophomore Aidan White helps the Worcester Green Corps beautify the city at Elm Park. Photo by Kevin Saleeba.

The WGC initiative was met with appreciation from the community.

“I’m glad things like this still exist,” said Yvette Slade, a Worcester resident for more than a decade. “I care about this community…Saying things are going to happen is one thing, but to actually see it in progress and to see it happen makes us normal people elated.”

David Bedard, a 17-year resident of Worcester said, “I’m just glad to see it happening.”

Civic pride and a clean city are also good for business, according to Dominique Goyette-Connerty, director of communications for the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“As Worcester experiences new levels of economic development and investment, it’s in everyone’s best interests to ensure the city is clean and inviting to residents and visitors alike,” she said.

By formally establishing this perennial program, WGC partners look to enhance existing cleanup efforts by encouraging the involvement of local businesses and nonprofit groups to assist in implementing cleanup practices throughout the city.

Included in this year-round effort is a six-week summer career pathways program running from July 6 to August 13. Twenty-five high school students will be involved in the Worcester Community Action Council’s YouthWorks program. The students will work around the city, Monday through Thursday, participating in litter cleanups and other beautification projects.

“It’s beautification,” Hotham said. “We will be taking off the graffiti, doing some paint updates where things are a little bit weathered — hopefully we are going to be installing some garden buds, updating some of those tree pits, and adding some murals and paintings in several places. Some of these places that get graffitied a lot, we’ve been talking about turning that into more of a work of art. It’s then less likely to get covered in graffiti.”

Hothan says the goal is to cover about 10,000 square feet of land a day.

“Some areas are going to take a little longer than others and some of them are not going to be much work,” she said.

“This educational aspect and civic engagement of our youth is a key part of Worcester Green Corps,” Murray said. “We need to proactively get our young people involved in these issues as we look toward a greener and cleaner future.”

According to Tim Gavin, president and CEO of the United Way of Central Massachusetts, the WGC represents the century-long partnership between the United Way and the Worcester Chamber, and this collaboration has positively impacted the community for years.

“As we begin our next century of service to the community, we at the United Way are excited and proud to partner in this new and profound way – to create, support, and implement Worcester Green Corps,” he said. “This program will have a huge impact on our teens, on their careers, on our neighborhoods and on the environment.”

 

From left to right: Jay Fink, DPW Commissioner for the City of Worcester; Tim Murray, President & CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce; Tim Garvin, President & CEO of the United Way of Central Massachusetts; Lila Pope, Manager of Youth Initiatives at the Job and Education Center for the Worcester Community Action Council; Marybeth Campbell, Executive Director of the Worcester Community Action Council; Roberto Diaz, Director of the Job and Education Center for the Worcester Community Action Council; Jeffrey Turgeon, Executive Director of the MassHire Central Region Workforce Board. Photo courtesy of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.

 

The Worcester Business Development Corporation, the Worcester Community Action Council, and the Mass Hire Central Workforce Board all will provide support to the WGC, while Fallon Health will act as a supporting sponsor. National Grid is also sponsoring one of the teams.

Fallon Health President and CEO Richard Burke said supporting the WGC is a chance for Fallon to thank the community for its 40 years of support for the health organization.

“Fallon Health’s roots are firmly planted in Worcester, and downtown has been the organization’s home for many years,” Burke said. “Sponsoring this new initiative is a great way to invest in the city as well as support the youth who will participate in, and benefit from, this program.”

Worcester South High School senior J.J. Negron helps the Worcester Green Corps beautify the city at Elm Park. Photo by Kevin Saleeba.

Hotham said she is proud to be part of the WGC initiative. “This is really what I want to be doing. I’m really passionate about municipal waste management and I’m really passionate about how we think about waste and litter and what residents are doing with their waste… Beautifying the streets is what we need to do.”