Aliyya Swaby Photo
Smith-Bogan, Okeke, Chambers shovel leaves.
Jesse Okeke used to drop trash around his neighborhood. Now a Dixwell “ambassador,” he doesn’t litter anymore — because he’s the one picking up trash from the street.
Okeke and the seven other teen ambassadors will be cleaning up Dixwell neighborhood for the next five weeks, as part of a pilot program funded by the community management team.
The city granted each of New Haven’s community management teams $10,000 to develop a project to better their neighborhoods. (Click here to read about how one Hill team used the money for community gardening.) Dixwell’s team worked with the Livable City Initiative (LCI) to develop its own summer version of downtown’s “ambassador” program (those greeters who work for the Town Green Special Services District), to get young people involved in cleaning their community and interacting with neighbors.
Okeke, who is 18, said he learned about the “broken window effect” of unattended small problems turning into bigger ones. In this case, that means people are more likely to litter in a neighborhood already covered in garbage than in one that is clean. A disorderly neighborhood leads to more disorder.
People don’t like carrying trash, he said. “It’s easier to drop it.” One experiment showed how more trash cans can prevent littering: At Disney World, a relatively clean amusement park, most trash cans are no more than 30 steps apart. On Dixwell Avenue, pedestrians can walk blocks without seeing one.
“My sister was a big no-litter bug,” Okeke said. “She made me pick it up” when he dropped trash. He said he now plans to be that dissuasive voice for his friends.
Charles Harper said he litters less now that he’s the one cleaning it up. But he said he can’t promise to completely stop the bad habit.
“I’m not gonna lie. I did drop things,” Harper said sheepishly. “I’m not going to say that I won’t do it after this job. It’s a subconscious thing,” when there’s no trash can. “I don’t want to hold it. I like to be free.”
To get people to stop littering altogether, “you would have to fully clean the community. This community doesn’t look like the Yale community or a suburban area. If you live in the ghetto or the hood, it’s hard because the area isn’t clean,” Harper said. “You would have to totally purify the whole community, not just one block.”
Some of the ambassadors have never held jobs prior to this experience, said Kathi Smith-Bogan, volunteer leader. Last week, they received their first paychecks — a bit more than $200 total for two weeks of work.
Najali Chambers, who is 17, said is “excited” for her first ever paycheck for her first job. She has a plan for the money. Chambers just opened up a savings and a checking account, so she will put $100 in the bank and split the other $100 between herself and her 1‑year-old daughter. She also created a bank account for her daughter.
Chambers said she enjoys meeting new people, young and old, through the ambassadors program. The hard part about the job? “Learning how to hold your tongue,” she said. “I just say what’s on my mind,” harder when you have a boss and co-workers.
Win Davis, executive director of the Town Green Special Services District, talked to the group Friday afternoon about their responsibility to the community. “Part of our job is to clean up, be hospitable, and work on safety downtown,” said Davis, who runs downtown’s ambassador program. “And part of it is greeting people, giving them a big smile, and hoping they might smile back and say, ‘Have a nice day.’”
Winny Sanchez (pictured above at center), who supervises the other workers, said she enjoyed getting to meet state and city legislators, including Mayor Toni Harp and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy during the recent 2nd Chance Bill ceremonial signing.
“It’s not only about cleaning. It’s about establishing relationships as well,” Sanchez said. By the end of seven weeks, the ambassadors will have produced a public service announcement about litter and neighborhood blight.