Hermosa Cleanup / Limpiar Schedule

The Hermosa Neighborhood Association's summer cleanup schedule is in full swing! We are looking for individuals of all ages who can help pick up trash to beautify our parks, streets and greenspaces. Gloves and garage bags will be provided, dress according for the weather. // ¡El programa de limpieza de verano de la Asociación de Vecinos de Hermosa está en pleno apogeo! Buscamos personas de todas las edades que puedan ayudar a recoger la basura para embellecer nuestros parques, calles y espacios verdes. Se proporcionarán guantes y bolsas de garaje, vístase de acuerdo con el clima.

• 6/19 - Hermosa - Pitch in for your Parks

• 7/10 - Kelvyn - Pitch in for your Parks - Cleanup meet at Kostner + Wrightwood

• 7/17 - Fullerton Cleanup meet at Healy Metra

• 8/7 - Kelvyn - Pitch in for your Parks - Cleanup meet at Kostner + Wrightwood

• 8/28 - Armitage Cleanup meet at Stock 'n Save

• 9/4 - Kelvyn - Pitch in for your Parks - Cleanup meet at Kostner + Wrightwood

• 10/2 - Kelvyn - Pitch in for your Parks - Cleanup meet at Kostner + Wrightwood

• 11/6 - Kelvyn - Pitch in for your Parks - Cleanup meet at Kostner + Wrightwood

How to Organize a Neighborhood Cleanup

Anyone can host a Neighborhood Cleanup and the HNA would love to help! Contact us by any method below and we’ll assist you in organizing one for your block or area you feel is need within Hermosa.

1. Contact the Hermosa Neighborhood Association to help with promotion and supplies:

   • Reach us on Facebook Messenger

   • Reach us by Text or Phone Call: 773-295-7790

   • Reach us by Email: info@ourhermosa.org

   • Register to Talk to a volunteer Coordinator

2. Contact Your Neighbors, Friends and Nearby Schools

   Neighbors: You may not have contact information for your nearby neighbors, but this is a great opportunity to becoming a block leader. Leave a note on someone’s door to recruit residents, post on social media and gather a phone and/or email tree to get people involved.
   
   Friends and Family: Your friends or family don’t need to live on your block to help you clean. You can invite them over (with masks) to gather outside safely and make it a social (distancing) affair.

   Your Nearby Elementary School: If you live close to a school, call the school to let them know the date and ask them if they can promote this on their social media channels or with school families. It’s a great way to get to meet school staff and families, even if you don’t have school-aged children.
   
   Your Nearby High School: All Chicago Public Schools high school students are required to log a certain amount of volunteer hours. By contacting the school or posting in a school Facebook group you can promote the cleanup with students. The student will need a non-profit or supervisor to sign their logged volunteers hours so the HNA can help with this.

Here’s an example of how the HNA can help promote your cleanup

Not sure where to start? Text us!

Join the HNA Beautification Committee for Hermosa

Beatification Committee Volunteer Opportunity

The Hermosa Neighborhood Association is seeking energetic neighbors and business owners to help strategize in our action-based Beautification Committee. This committee focuses on creating a greener and cleaner Hermosa. Seasonal planting, tree management and advocacy, as well as block and park cleanups.

Helpful Skills/Interest But Not Required

Interest in being outdoors, planning or planting gardens, trees, park advocacy and neighborhood trash cleanups.

Commitment

2-10 hours a month. Committee meetings are monthly. the 2nd Wednesday of the month. See full calendar for dates.

Ages

16+ to 100 (teens can acquire service hours for school requirements)

Interested? Register to Talk with the HNA

By scheduling an appointment with a volunteer at the HNA, we spend 30 minutes discussing your interests and ways of volunteering to make a positive impact for our community.

Leadership Opportunities with the Hermosa Neighborhood Association

Volunteer! Join an HNA Committee

The Hermosa Neighborhood Association is seeking energetic neighbors and business owners to help strategize, in our action-based committees and neighborhood board. If you would like general information about volunteering, please visit our volunteering page, or make an appointment with one of our coordinators.

The HNA is structured as a voting membership of not more than 10, then an extended network or volunteers, donors and neighborhood advocates who join committees aligned by specific goals of the organization. Volunteers can join HNA Committees anytime, and the HNA Board is by application and annual election.

Current HNA Committees

Committees meet monthly. To join a committee, contact us and we can include you in our meetings, the committee calendar and goals

Marketing + Community Outreach Committee
This committee focuses on engaging with the community in various ways including events, HNA advocacy, volunteering, as well as social media and promotion of Hermosa-focused news

Safety Committee
By listening and engaging in community, ward and policing activities, committee members take on HNA Safety Committee goal-oriented tasks and initiatives such as reporting and publishing CAPs meetings, promoting ward and community policing engagements and collating crime and traffic data for special interest initiatives. Learn more

Fundraising + Dog Park Committee
This committee is dedicated to donor outreach, whether it be community members in small donations, as well as corporate donors and grants. Fundraising may take place online through social media, at events or personal phone calls with potential business donors.

Or, find out more information about pets and dog park progress.

Beautification Committee
This committee focuses on creating a greener and cleaner Hermosa. Seasonal planting, tree management and advocacy, as well as block and park cleanups are all part of this direct-action committee.

Time Commitment

2-10 hours a month depending

Ages

16+ to 100 (teens can acquire service hours for school requirements)

Interested? Please register to talk to our volunteer coordinators

Hermosa tree planting BIG success!

View fullsize

We wanted to extend a big thank you to all those who came out to help us plant trees near Kelvyn Park on Saturday November 5th. We helped to settle an incredible 42 trees into their new homes....the Hermosa community!!!! Combined with our earlier tree planting in the spring, we have planted a total of 64 trees in Hermosa in 2016....WOW!

These trees included various red oaks, chinquapin oaks, catalpas, sweet gums, lindens, and bur oaks. These trees are going to make a HUGE difference to our community for years to come!!!!

Here are a few of the benefits they will provide:

• Each tree will intercept about 159 gallons of stormwater runoff per year. This means an additional 10,494 gallons of water will be stored in Hermosa each year. This will reduce soil erosion, flooding, and help minimize the amount of pollutants washed into nearby aquatic ecosystems.

• Each tree will conserve 9 kilowatt hours of energy per year by providing shade to nearby buildings and reducing wind speeds in the area. This means a total of 576 kilowatt hour conserved in Hermosa per year!

• Each tree will reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2, a greenhouse gas) by 42lbs a year. This means a total of 2,772 lbs of CO2 will be reduced by the trees we've helped plant!

Caring for and expanding the green spaces in Hermosa is crucial for both the health of the environment, and the health of our community as a whole.

Thank you again for your hard work, and we hope to see you at another planting and tree maintenance session soon.

Thank you to the 100+ participants who came out to help plant these trees. A big, big thank you to Openlands for accepting our grant, supplying the trees, Treekeepers, tools, and know-how.  Thank you to Michigan State University, Kelvyn Park High School and Kelvyn Park Advisory Council for bringing so many volunteers! Thank you Alderman Milly Santiago - 31st Ward for water and for supplies and handy help from Phil the Ward Superintendent.

And a big BIG thank you to La Central Bakery (4348 W. Armitage Ave, 773- 252-7302) for their generous donation of delicious sandwiches and cookies. Awesome job everyone!

An additional shout out to Chicago Park District for providing tools and mulch, and to the City of Chicago for providing permits.  

Feel free to visit Openlands' Facebook (www.facebook.com/openlandschicago) to see additonal pictures and videos from this event.

If you would like to get more involved in Openlands, please check out more information, here: http://www.openlands.org/what-we-do-page-8.php