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Keeping
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The Yard of the Week Contest
operates in the spring and early summer of the year in neighborhoods
selected because of the obvious influence
of negative elements that detract from its appearance, safety and overall
quality of life.
Contest Guidelines
Implementation strategy may vary by neighborhood, but theseguidelines
for the Yard Contest are required:
- At least one person
must accept the role and responsibility of Contest Organizer.
- Neighborhoods
with 250 - 300 houses should be selected and have the following factors:
- High crime/violence
rates as reported by news and police.
- Visual evidence
of poorly maintained properties (i.e., overgrown grass, vegetation,
presence of litter and dumping in yards and common areas, broken
down vehicles and appliances in yards, broken fences, etc.)
- YOTW is a spring
contest that should run 8 weeks, generally starting mid May through
the middle of July.
- New “Yard
of the Week” winners should be identified and rewarded throughout
the contest period with small monetary awards ($10 Gold Dollars) and
yard signs designating winners in three categories and one Honorable
Mention:
- "Most
Tender Loving Care Yard" - 1st, 2nd, 3rd place.
- "Most
Natural Yard" - 1st, 2nd, 3rd place.
- "Most
Green Thumb" - 1st, 2nd, 3rd place.
- Honorable
Mention
- A budget of
$3,000 will be needed ($2 per person per house or $10 per house per
contest year) to cover the following:
- Metal yard
signs for contest winners (signs cost about $16 per sign.) We
use Fast Signs
- Prize Money:
$800 in Gold Dollars from bank ($10 per winner, 10 winners, 8
weeks)
- Printing
and mailing of contest announcements (We use Kinko's for printing)
The $3,000 amounts
to about $10 per house per year. The people in the contest provide their
own plant material, labor, water, supplies. While the contests in Columbia
are funded privately, church funds provide the financing in Florence
and municipal funding is provided in Winston Salem. It is expected that
the Rotary Club, AME Chruches, Baptist Churches, Presbyterian Churches,
Methodist Churches, and municipal governments will fund each contest
on an "area needs basis". The goal is to continue to do the
contest each year for many years.......and watch the change.
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