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Love Your Block 2025

Mayor Michelle Wu and the Office of Civic Organizing invite you to participate in Boston’s annual Love Your Block Cleanups each April!

Join us for Boston's citywide beautification event sponsored by the Mayor’s Office of Civic Organizing. Engage in community service by leading or volunteering for cleanups in your neighborhood. Enhance streets, parks and open spaces. Sign up to host a site or volunteer!

This year, the Love Your Block 2025 registration runs until March 3, 2025. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to accommodate groups after the registration period closes.

About Love your Block

Contact: Civic Organizing

"Love Your Block" is an initiative by the City of Boston, run by the Office of Civic Organizing, to  foster community engagement and make neighborhoods cleaner and more beautiful. Previously known as "Boston Shines," this initiative encourages residents and community groups to join forces and take extra care of our neighborhoods.

Every spring, Bostonians representing every neighborhood unite to showcase their community pride and commitment. Participating in "Love Your Block" is a great way to connect with neighbors, spend time outdoors, and witness the tangible impact of collective action. It’s a fun and rewarding way to help keep our city beautiful while building a stronger sense of community.

Get involved

Get involved
Contact: Civic Organizing

Friday, April 4, 2025

Downtown

Saturday, April 5, 2025 

Allston | Brighton | Chinatown | Leather District | Charlestown | Dorchester | Downtown | Mid-Dorchester | Mattapan | Roslindale | South Boston | North End | West End | Wharf District | West Roxbury

Saturday, April 12, 2025

East Boston | Jamaica Plain | Roxbury | Back Bay | Beacon Hill | Fenway-Kenmore | Mission Hill | Hyde Park | Bay Village | South End

 

To make our cleanup efforts as efficient as possible we've updated our tool distribution process. Like last year, cleanup tools will not be delivered directly to project sites. Instead, each participating site should designate a contact person to pick up and return the tools from a centralized distribution point in their neighborhood on the morning of their Love Your Block date.

Details on these locations are listed below. Tool pickup is from 9–10 a.m., with returns at the same location between 12–2 p.m.

Saturday, April 5, 2025

Allston | Brighton: BCYF Jackson/Mann at 500 Cambridge Street.

Charlestown: BCYF Charlestown at 255 Medford Street.

Chinatown | Leather District | Downtown: BCYF Quincy at 885 Washington Street.

Dorchester: BCYF Leahy-Holloran at 1 Worrell Street.

Mattapan: BCYF Gallivan at 61 Woodruff Way.

Mid-Dorchester: BYCF Holland at 85 Olney Street.

North End | West End | Wharf District: BPL North End at 25 Parmenter Street.

Roslindale: BPL Roslindale at 4246 Washington Street.

South Boston: BYCF Condon at 200 D Street.

West Roxbury: BCYF Roche at 1716 Centre Street.

 

Saturday, April 12, 2025

Back Bay | Beacon Hill: BCYF Quincy at 885 Washington Street.

Bay Village | South End: BCYF Blackstone at 50 W. Brookline Street.

East Boston: BCYF Pino at 86 Boardman Street. 

Fenway-Kenmore | Mission Hill: BCYF Tobin at 1481 Tremont Street.

Hyde Park: BCYF Hyde Park at 1179 River Street.

Jamaica Plain:  BCYF Curtis Hall at 20 South Street.

Roxbury: BCYF Vine Street at 339 Dudley Street.

We encourage groups with more than 4 participants to consider hosting their own site for Love Your Block. Hosting a site is a great way to maximize your group's impact and ensure a coordinated effort in beautifying our community.

Host a cleanup site

 

  1. Identify a location:
    • parks
    • streets and sidewalks
    • vacant lots, or
    • other City-owned property.
  2. Choose a project:
    • trash cleanup
    • sidewalk and street cleanup
    • park revitalization, or
    • flower planting.
  3. Plan with a team:
    • Talk to your neighbors and recruit interested residents to help plan your cleanup. Consider hosting a neighborhood meeting to discuss details and divide up responsibilities.
    • Have a designated group leader to be the point of contact for Civic Organizing.
  4. Request tools and support: 
    • Use our form to submit your site request and request to borrow tools by March 3, 2025, at 5 P.M
    • The Office of Civic Organizing has the following tools available for neighborhood cleanups: gloves, trash pickers, brooms, rakes, big shovels, hand trowels, dust pans, sharps disposal containers, bags, and more.
    • Based on your location, identify a spot for trash pickup:
      • For streets and sidewalks: trash should be left curbside at an intersection identified in your sign-up form.
      • For Boston Parks: trash should be next to park trash receptacles in a visible location from the road.
      • For private property: use private dumpsters or normal private trash disposal for the location.
  5. Spread the word:
    • Create a flyer that can be emailed, shared on social media, and printed out to be dropped on doorsteps.
    • Recruit volunteers:
      • Share the flyer with your network and invite neighbors to come join the cleanup.
      • Invite local neighborhood associations and civic groups to come and to share the invitation with their members.
    • If any volunteers sign up for your site using our general interest sign up form, we will send you their details ahead of time. 
  6. Day of logistics:
    • Please send your contact person to pick up the tools from the centralized hub in the neighborhood where the cleanup is happening. The pickup should occur between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Also, ensure that volunteers arrive at the cleanup site early.
    • Consider offering coffee, water, or refreshments for the volunteers and having a sign-up form so that you can follow up with them later. Please ask volunteers about any allergies or dietary restrictions. 
    • Assign groups of 2 - 3 people to focus on different areas or different tasks.
    • Be sure to count the tools before and after the cleanup to ensure that no items are lost or left behind.
    • Return the tools to the centralized hub between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.

Want to join a Love Your Block cleanup in your neighborhood but don’t have a group or a preferred site? Sign up as an individual volunteer or with a group of up to 4 people. During the signup period, we’ll collect your email, and once site registrations close, we’ll send you the full list of locations so you can choose your preferred spot.

I
f your group has more than 4 participants, consider hosting your own site for Love Your Block! We can help you find a location within your neighborhood.

VOLUNTEER

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