About the Baltimore Clean Corps Initiative
Funded by the American Rescue Plan (ARPA), Clean Corps is a multi-agency project, led by the Baltimore City Department of Planning as part of the Baltimore Green Network. Clean Corps works with Baltimore-based nonprofits in partnership with 25 neighborhoods to clean and maintain community-selected vacant lots biweekly, alleys weekly, and public trash cans daily.
Partner nonprofits have hired unemployed or underemployed Baltimore City residents to clean and maintain community-selected sites, including maintaining vacant lots, alleys, and trash receptacles in partnership with the 25 neighborhoods’ associations and residents.
To increase Clean Corps capacity to serve more Baltimore City residents, Clean Corps will be shifting to a ‘regional’ model, where crews serve 2-4 neighborhoods each. This model has been piloted in 2024 with great success in both East and West Baltimore. This change will prioritize mobility and responsiveness to emerging needs on the ground by maintaining even closer communication with community leadership in each neighborhood served.
Creating Strong Partnerships with the Neighborhoods
Clean Corps' mission is to work in partnership with the residents and leaders of the 14 neighborhoods. The Clean Corps grantees are required to talk with the neighborhood associations' leaders on a weekly basis in order to get their input, expertise, and wisdom on areas to address. Each of the 25 neighborhoods' residents determined the lots and alleys that the Clean Corps crews are focusing in their neighborhood with this initiative.
The Clean Corps neighborhoods are Arlington, Boyd-Booth/Fayette Street Outreach, Broadway East, East Baltimore Midway, Franklin Square, Greenspring, and Westport with Baltimore Corps Fellow Lamar West at lamar.west@baltimorecity.gov as the Clean Corps contact. Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello, Darley Park, Druid Heights, Four by Four, Harlem Park, Penn North, Sandtown Winchester, and Upton with Phoebe Letsebe as the Program Manager at pletsebe@civicworks.com. For general inquiries about the program please contact Treston Codrington, Program Director at treston.codrington@baltimorecity.gov.
Our Progress
Clean Corps has launched a service dashboard that allows all of Baltimore City’s residents to follow the progress of the Clean Corps crews in their 25 targeted neighborhoods over time. Now everyone can view the before and after photos of work completed by the Clean Corps crews as they clean and mow vacant lots, clean alleys, and empty public trashcans on a daily basis to create a cleaner Baltimore. Visit the Clean Corps Dashboard.
Get Involved
Whole Block Strategy
Clean Corps has focused on cleaning and mowing vacant lots, cleaning alleys, and cleaning and emptying public trash cans for most of 2023. In support of doing the most thorough job possible, we are shifting to a ‘Whole Block Strategy’ in select Clean Corps neighborhoods that includes the cleaning the back alley, vacant lots, sidewalks, unmaintained street tree pits, and public trash cans.
Tree Pit Maintenance
Trees are important to all of our communities. Studies show that trees help clean air, provide shade, and reduce temperatures around them during the summer. Studies have shown that trees can help to reduce crime and clean the air around them. But a key to keeping street trees alive is to make sure that the tree pits are clean.
Clean Corps would like to clean the tree pit in front of your building. This includes removing all of the trash, weeds and rocks within your tree pit. If you have planted flowers or bulbs in your tree pit and/or do not want anyone to clean the tree pit in front of your building, please contact the Clean Corps Program at cleancorpsbaltimore@gmail.com or call 410-396-2929.
For more information about the Clean Corps program, please email cleancorpsbaltimore@gmail.com or call 410-396-2929.