Love Your Block 2026

Friday, April 24, 2026

Downtown

Saturday, April 25, 2026 

Allston • Back Bay • Beacon Hill • Brighton • Chinatown-Leather District • Dorchester • Fenway–Kenmore • Jamaica Plain • Mid-Dorchester • Mission Hill • South Boston

Saturday, May 2, 2026

Bay Village • Charlestown • East Boston • Hyde Park • Mattapan • North End • Roslindale • Roxbury • South End • West End • West Roxbury • Wharf District

Like previous years, cleanup tools will be available for pickup at a centralized distribution location in each neighborhood. Each cleanup host should designate a contact person to collect and return the tools from the pick-up location on the morning of Love Your Block. 

Details on these locations will be listed below when applications open on March 10, 2026. Tool pickup is from 9–10 a.m., with returns at the same location between 12–2 p.m.

We encourage groups with more than 4-5 participants to consider hosting their own site for Love Your Block. Hosting a site is a great way to maximize your group's impact, focus your project to your specific interests, and ensure a coordinated effort in beautifying our community.

1. Identify a location:
   • parks
   • streets and sidewalks
   • other City-owned property
   • Or, community spaces (private parks or community gardens)
2. Choose a project:
   • litter cleanup
   • sidewalk and street cleanup
   • park revitalization, or
   • maintaining green spaces, such as city-owned or community-owned parks
3. Plan with a team:
   • Talk to your neighbors and recruit interested residents to help plan your cleanup. Consider hosting a neighborhood meeting to discuss details and divide up responsibilities.
   • Have a designated group leader to be the point of contact for Civic Organizing, and decide on who will pick-up and return the cleanup tools on the day of Love Your Block.
4. Request tools and support: 
   • Use our form to submit your site request, approximate number of volunteers, and request to borrow tools by March 30, 2026, at 5 p.m.
   • The Office of Civic Organizing has the following tools available for neighborhood cleanups: disposable gloves, trash pickers, brooms, rakes,  shovels, dust pans, trash bags, and mulch (limited availability).
   • Based on your location, identify a spot for trash pickup:
     • For streets and sidewalks: trash should be left curbside at an intersection identified in your sign-up form.
     • For Boston Parks: trash should be next to park trash receptacles in a visible location from the road.
     • For non–City-owned spaces, please use private dumpsters or your regular private trash disposal service. You may also contact civicorganizing@boston.gov to discuss available options and determine the best approach for your cleanup.
5. Spread the word:
   • Create a flyer that can be emailed, shared on social media, and printed out to be dropped on doorsteps.
   • Recruit volunteers:
     • Share the flyer with your network and invite neighbors to come join the cleanup.
     • Invite local neighborhood associations and civic groups to come and to share the invitation with their members.
   • If any volunteers sign up for your site using our general interest sign up form, we will send you their details ahead of time. 
6. Day of logistics:
   • On the day, each site host will send their designated contact person to the local neighborhood hub to pick up the cleanup tools and t-shirts between 9am and 10am. Make sure that you also have a volunteer who can arrive at the cleanup site early to greet and organize the arriving volunteers. 
   • Consider offering coffee, water, or refreshments for the volunteers and having a sign-up form so that you can follow up with them later. Please ask volunteers about any allergies or dietary restrictions. 
   • Assign groups of 2 - 3 people to focus on different areas or different tasks.
   • Be sure to count the tools before and after the cleanup to ensure that no items are lost or left behind.
   • Move any trash to the designated drop-off area and return tools to the centralized hub between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.

Want to join a Love Your Block cleanup in your neighborhood but don’t have a group or a preferred site? Sign up as an individual volunteer or with a group of up to 4-5 people. During the signup period, we’ll collect your email, and once site registrations close, we’ll send you the full list of locations available that day. 

If your group has more than 4-5 participants, consider hosting your own site for Love Your Block! If you need help getting started, we can help you find a location and a project within your neighborhood.