Keep Texas Beautiful has recognized Navasota as one of nine winners of the 2009 Governor’s Community Achievement Award (GCAA) for outstanding community improvement. The award is one of the most coveted annual environmental and community improvement honors in Texas. The winners will share $1 million in landscape grants from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT); Navasota will receive $75,000 for a landscaping project along a local state right-of-way.
Communities submitted materials to one of nine population categories and judges chose the winners based on their achievements in seven environmental and community improvement areas: community leadership and coordination, education, public awareness, litter prevention and cleanup, illegal dumping enforcement, beautification and property improvement, and solid waste management.
Keep Navasota Beautiful (KNB) – the community’s local Keep Texas Beautiful affiliate – worked diligently in 2008 to educate and engage Texans. The organization hosts two Great American Cleanup events every year; the ‘Senior Trash Bash’ saw 92 high school seniors volunteer nearly 100 hours to clear more than six miles of roadways in 2008. The community’s Texas Trash-Off event garnered 88 volunteers who dedicated 264 hours picking up debris. KNB partnered with parents and youth basketball players to beautify a local park, and another citywide cleanup event netted 33 tons of debris and three tons of recyclable material. Moreover, stricter code enforcement by the city, along with the hiring of Navasota’s first enforcement officer, led to the removal of more than 30 inoperable cars, the cleaning of 10 illegal dumping areas and the demolition of eight condemned houses.
The GCAA program has recognized outstanding communities for 23 consecutive years, with TxDOT providing grant funds since 1985. Navasota will receive its award on June 11, 2009 in Houston during the 42nd Annual Keep Texas Beautiful Conference.
Keep Texas Beautiful, a statewide grassroots environmental and community improvement nonprofit, strives to educate and engage Texans to take responsibility for improving their community environment. KTB and its more than 360 affiliates work with government, businesses, civic groups, and volunteers to ensure that every Texan has the opportunity to make Texas the cleanest, most beautiful state in the nation. For more information on programs and events, call 1-800-CLEAN-TX or visit www.ktb.org.
