River North Clean Streets – Over 11 Tons of Trash & Recyclables cleared from River North Streets

A Cleaner, Safer & More Compassionate Neighborhood

What is River North Clean Streets?

Now in it’s third successful year, River North Clean Streets is a 501(c)3 non-profit, founded by the River North Residents Association and the River North Business Association and endorsed by both Alderman Brendan Reilly and Commander Daniel O’Shea.

The 2019 Season ran from May through October 2019:

  • 629 bags of trash and 309 bags of recyclables (over 11 tons) were removed from our streets.
  • Nearly 100 hard-working crew members received potentially life-changing opportunities.

The Problem: Unfortunately, our many visitors often leave a shocking amount of litter behind when they head home after a night on the town. Since the Department of Streets and Sanitation has limited resources on weekends, the neighborhood has to live with unsightly and unsanitary streets and sidewalks until Monday morning.

The Solution:  The River North Clean Streets has arranged for Cleanslate Chicago to tidy up our neighborhood on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  In their bright yellow vests, the friendly, well trained Cleanslate crews pick up tons of garbage and recyclable materials, leaving our community cleaner, safer and healthier.

The Benefits:  Keeps our neighborhood looking great, promotes recycling, deters crime, improves public health and safety and provides life-changing support, training and temporary employment for hardworking Cleanslate interns eager to move toward self sufficiency.

Thank you to our Sponsors: This program is made possible by local businesses, organizations and individuals who are willing to become block or program sponsors.  We wish to express our gratitude to all of our sponsors who are helping to maintain a cleaner, safer and more compassionate River North.

  • To view participating Block Sponsors, click here.
  • To view participating Program Sponsors, click here.

Click here to learn about the amazing deal and current service area. To become a sponsor click here.

Congratulation to our “2019 Intern of the Year” Lena Gladney from Cleanslate Chicago.

Lena, an intern with Cleanslate Chicago was presented the Award at the 2019 RNRA Annual Meeting on 11-12-19 at Tao Chicago in recognition of outstanding performance in time management, communication, professionalism, conflict resolution and teamwork for her performance on the River North Clean Streets program.

From left to right: Brian Israel (RNCS President), Lena Gladney (Cleanslate Chicago Intern), Brady Gott (Cleanslate Chicago Managing Director), Mickie Gordon (RNCS Board of Directors)