New Fight The Blight Campaign Aims To Beautify The Heights On A Grassroots Level

Muskegon Heights, MI: Muskegon Heights is Reaching New Heights. The New Heights 2-year campaign is focusing in 2022 on the effort to fight blight! Beginning May 21, the City of Muskegon Heights, together with its community partners, is presenting a summer-long clean-up campaign entitled, “Beautify the Heights, Help Fight Blight”. This community empowerment-driven clean-up is engaging residents, businesses, community stakeholders, and volunteers to help curb blight and beautify all sections of the city throughout the city’s entire summer. Each cleanup event will be repeated on the 3rd Saturday of the month, having started in May, and continuing until the end of August.

Each month, the campaign will focus on four zones within the city. On May 21, the kick-off event started with utility trailers in each zone.
A growing list of community partners includes, but is not limited to, the City of Muskegon Heights, United Way of Lakeshore, Community Foundation for Muskegon County, Muskegon Heights Business Association, Gaining Unity through Non-Violent Solutions, West Michigan Lake Hawks in Flight Foundation, Inc., Overcoming Barriers Inc., Coalition for Community Development, Mission for Area People, Taking Back Muskegon, LADS Reforestation Project, Shiba Sequoia Forest, Read Muskegon, 10,000 Fearless Muskegon, the Muskegon Heights Neighborhood Association, and more.

Our community partners have designated captains to oversee the operations for each zone and event. The dates for each upcoming event are June 18, July 16, and August 20 from 8 am to 2 pm. The Community Captains are:

  • Michelle Tyson – Taking Back Muskegon;
  • Kaja Thornton-Hunter – US Café/Overcoming Barriers;
  • Contessa Hood – Muskegon Heights Business Association;
  • Julius Muhammad – 10,000 Fearless Muskegon and
  • Calvin Davis – City of Muskegon Heights

Residents are encouraged to participate by cleaning and beautifying their yards; mowing and edging their lawns, and spreading their cleanup attention and efforts throughout their neighborhoods. Because sharing is caring, residents are encouraged to share their lawn equipment, garden tools, and expertise with neighbors who are seniors or may have special needs.

City Manager Troy Bell, “Blight threatens public safety, challenges water infrastructure, impacts road maintenance, lowers property values, and degrades the quality of life for all. We are Reaching New Heights! Our neighborhoods can and will become safer, cleaner, and more beautiful places for all of us to live if we commit to working together! Unity, Focus, and Vision is the Key!”

Go to bit.ly/BeautifyTheHeights2022 for the neighborhood specifics of concern and common meet-up location.