New Communities Join Keep America Beautiful Affiliate Network

Keep America Beautiful has more than 650 community-based affiliates across the United States that carry out our shared mission at the state, county, and municipal levels.

New communities across the country – and the world – continue to join the Keep America Beautiful® affiliate network. To become a certified Keep America Beautiful affiliate, interested groups must fulfill certain requirements, including trainings. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, affiliates certified after March 2020 were trained virtually.

Since 1953, Keep America Beautiful has provided a replicable framework for community education and hands-on stewardship that seeks to end littering, improve recycling, and beautify America’s communities. Using the fundamentals of the field-tested, time-proven Keep America Beautiful Model for Change, our affiliates reach deep into communities to effect meaningful, positive, and lasting change by delivering innovative, locally-focused programs that address their community’s needs.

This year, Keep America Beautiful Regional Director Isaac Nicholson certified Keep Coral Gables Beautiful in Florida, Keep Allegany Beautiful in Maryland, and Keep Conway Beautiful and Keep Jasper Beautiful in South Carolina. In Florida, Keep Coral Gables Beautiful joins more than 40 affiliates. Additionally, more than 30 new affiliates in Maryland are set to become certified in December.

“Despite the strange year, we’re seeing tremendous growth in our network,” said Nicholson.

Grace Keegan, Keep America Beautiful Regional Director - Central, certified Keep Oxford Beautiful in Alabama on March 4, and in Mississippi, Keep Richland Beautiful on June 9, Keep Ocean Springs Beautiful on Oct. 5, and Keep Walnut Grove Beautiful.

“[Keep Oxford Beautiful] is an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful to help educate residents living within the city limits about littering, recycling, community greening, and other ways to keep their community and environment clean,” states an article from WEAC TV24. “[The group] is made up of seven members with various backgrounds including education and business.”

Jason Smith, Keep America Beautiful Regional Director – West, certified Keep Gallup Clean & Beautiful, located in New Mexico, on Sept. 9, and Keep Plainview Beautiful, located in Texas, on Oct. 9. Keep Plainview Beautiful is also a Keep Texas Beautiful affiliate.

In June, Keep America Beautiful also certified Keep Ghana Beautiful, the first Keep America Beautiful affiliated organization in Africa. Keep Ghana Beautiful joins five other international affiliates, which are in Canada, Bermuda, and the Bahamas.

“We are proud to belong to the Keep America Beautiful family of affiliates. With this certification, we look to working together to contribute to creating clean, green, and vibrant communities in Ghana," said Keep Ghana Beautiful Executive Director Elijah Mensah, who spent a year with Keep America Beautiful as an Atlas Corps Fellow, a program that is designed to develop social sector leaders, strengthen organizations, and promote innovation through an overseas fellowship of skilled nonprofit professionals.

With the help of millions of volunteers and program participants, Keep America Beautiful and our affiliate network annually deliver an average of $305 million in measurable benefits to the communities we serve. If you know a county or municipality that would benefit from becoming an affiliate, please let us know! Application materials can be found here.