FLINT, MI – The Genesee County Land Bank Authority (GCLBA) and the Authority’s Clean & Green program volunteers are partnering with the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center (MI-YVPC), based at the University of Michigan, on a dumping prevention project in Flint neighborhoods. GCLBA crews will work alongside Clean & Green groups to clear areas that are known hot spots for illegal dumping. Over 80% of the 65 Clean & Green groups participating in the program this season reported regularly removing illegal dumping from the vacant lots they volunteer to maintain. Used tires, construction debris, furniture and other household belongings are often trucked in and dumped on lots by contractors and others doing home improvement projects. Through this project, crews will install dumping prevention measures in areas throughout the city of Flint that have a known history of regular dumping. Interventions include solar lighting, trail cameras, boulder barriers and signage.
University researchers and Land Bank staff have been compiling logs of illegal dumping data. Clean & Green groups reported some of the most notorious illegal dumping hotspots in their areas and requested help with prevention measures. Roughly 40 intervention sites have been selected throughout Flint with additional properties to be selected for two additional years following. Site planning, data collection, interventions and monitoring of illegal dumping sites will extend until 2025. A robust analysis of intervention outcomes and effects will follow.
GCLBA crews will install the interventions at each study site following large scale clean ups. Crews began installing dumping prevention measures on Saturday, August 19 on 15 vacant lots at three different locations. Crews will clean and install dumping prevention measures most Saturdays throughout the remainder of the growing season, weather permitting. Researchers from the University of Michigan will then evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions for preventing violence and dumping, while assessing the general patterns of illegal dumping across the city. For more information about the study, go to: Preventing Illegal Dumping to Address Community Violence – Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center (umich.edu).
Based on the Land Bank’s experience with dumping prevention, they anticipate that this project will help to reduce the amount of illegal dumping in neighborhoods.
“We appreciate our partnerships with neighborhood groups, and the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center, that make this project possible, and we hope that through this process, we can create a model for effective illegal dumping prevention that can be used in other areas throughout the city,” said Michael Freeman, executive director of the Genesee County Land Bank.
Tire shops, contractors and others doing home improvement projects should take waste to a landfill and stop dumping illegally in neighborhoods. Residents can report illegal dumping to the City of Flint Blight Office at 810- 237-2090, or to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-422-Jail (5245), so those committing these crimes can be prosecuted.
About the Genesee County Land Bank’s Clean & Green Program
Clean & Green has been a program of the Genesee County Land Bank since 2004. The purpose of the Clean & Green program is to support innovative community groups and organizations in the cleaning, maintaining and beautifying of otherwise vacant properties in Genesee County.
Through the program, community groups seasonally maintain concentrated clusters of vacant properties. Each participating group receives a stipend for maintaining at least 25 properties every three weeks from April to September. Groups are selected to participate in the program through a competitive application process. The 2023 Clean & Green program is supported through grant funding from the Ruth Mott Foundation, the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center and MSHDA through the Hardest Hit Fund. For more information, you can email cleangreen@thelandbank.org or call (810) 293-0663.
