Kids pitch in to beautify businesses

When Leland Avenue business owners were approached by a dozen local youth with squeegees, buckets, towels and bottles of soap offering to help clean their storefronts on Thursday, April 1st, it wasn’t an April fools’ day joke. The offer was genuine, as VVBOOM teamed up with local youth development organization Real Options for City Kids (ROCK) and the Department of Public Works (DPW) to provide free window washing and help bridge the gap between local youth and business owners. When it was all said and done, 13 Leland Avenue businesses had their storefront windows cleaned top to bottom by neighborhood school students from Visitacion Valley Elementary and Middle School as well as Burton High School. The cleaning supplies were donated from DPW’s Corridor Program and after the storefront windows were sparkling clean, kids were treated to a pizza party at Joe Leland Coffee Shop. The community clean-up not only beautified 13 downtown Visitacion Valley storefronts, it showcased the hard work of youth who take pride their neighborhood to small business owners through a widely successful community partnership.