(April 22, 2025) Keep Chester City Beautiful, supported by the Office of Mayor Stefan Roots, has officially become an affiliate of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful. Their mission is to equip and empower residents across Chester to clean up and beautify their blocks, and to improve communication and collaboration between residents and their local government.

To achieve this milestone, Keep Chester City Beautiful successfully completed Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s comprehensive Community Assessment. This vital process gathered crucial data across six key areas: residents’ attitudes towards litter and community image, existing litter prevention programs, community and beautification leaders, current waste and recycling policies, past and ongoing community revitalization efforts, and active volunteer groups. The insights gained will be instrumental in shaping a local plan aimed at transforming attitudes and behaviors around litter, recycling, beautification, and related issues.

Keep Chester City Beautiful will focus on implementing the Block Captain program in partnership with Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s Land Steward program. The Chester City Block Captain Program will organize regular cleanups across the city for residents to tackle litter and dumping. Residents can apply to become an official Block Captain or volunteer to participate in targeted cleanups. This program will be led by a City Council-appointed committee of three residents, Hailey Gerena, Dahkeem Williams, and Michael Lewis.

“I am incredibly proud and excited to launch our Chester City Block Captain Program as an affiliate of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful! The number one concern of residents across the city is litter and dumping, so it is my top priority to clean up and beautify Chester. The Block Captain Program will equip and empower residents to be a part of the solution through regular cleanups, big and small. This program’s partnership between the city, residents, and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful is a strong recipe for success and a more beautiful Chester!” said Stefan Roots, Mayor of Chester, PA.

“The Block Captain Program is thrilled to join Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s affiliate network! We look forward to using this partnership to bring the community together for a cause we can all get behind. Cleaning up the city’s litter and empowering residents to champion their local neighborhoods throughout the city will help Chester’s physical appearance match the inner beauty of the community,” said Hailey Gerena, Chester City Block Captain Committee Member.

Justin Tibbles, Special Assistant to the Mayor and Constituent Affairs Manager, will serve as coordinator for Keep Chester City Beautiful affiliate programs. The affiliate can be reached at chestercityblockcaptains@gmail.com or 610-447-7700 Ext. # 7718.

“Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful is delighted to congratulate and welcome Keep Chester City Beautiful to our network. We extend our gratitude to Mayor Roots for his invaluable support and recognition of the benefits our programs, tools, and resources bring to residents of the City of Chester. Together, we look forward to enhancing existing initiatives and warmly welcome Keep Chester City Beautiful and the Mayor’s office to our Affiliate Network,” said Shannon Reiter, President of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.

For more information about Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s local affiliates, visit keeppabeautiful.org and choose Affiliate Network. To inquire about starting an affiliate, contact Kylie McCutcheon at kmccutcheon@keeppabeautiful.org or 724-836-4121 x114.

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About Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s vision is a clean and beautiful Pennsylvania. Since 1990, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful has worked with hundreds of thousands of volunteers across the state to pick up nearly 162 million pounds of trash from Pennsylvania’s roadways, waterways, greenways, vacant lots, forestlands and other community spaces. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’s core programming focuses on litter and illegal dump prevention, cleanup, community greening, and proper waste handling and sustainable practices. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful works with many partnering organizations on the state and grassroots level to accomplish our goal of a clean and beautiful Pennsylvania. Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful is the state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, Inc., the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. To learn more about Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, visit www.keeppabeautiful.org.

Download the press release.