30 March 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT)- The Changing our Culture Program celebrated the kickstart to its second year by joining the 27 News Morning show just ahead of its first meeting.
Christina Valdivia-Alcalá, councilwoman for District 2, along with ShaMecha King Simms, a neighborhood leader, spoke with 27 News Anchor Katie Garceran about the importance of keeping our neighborhoods clean.
“All of this is geared toward community interaction and that’s what we are going to focus on,” Alcalá said.
The initiative calls on neighbors, NIA and NA members, volunteers, churchgoers, organizations and just about anyone in the community that wants to contribute to making the Top City a better place. Whether that be through helping a neighbor plant a flower, or bringing out the mower and cutting your own lawn.
“This is actually one of the most important things that we do,” King Simms said. “It’s a way to organize people around something that is very simple, something that immediately and instantly boosts a sense of pride in people.”
If anyone in the community is interested in attending the sessions, the leaders of the initiative have put a little incentive out there to people who can make it out in person. When you go to the session, you will be automatically entered into a giveaway for a chance to win a free lawn mower!
There will be three sessions and a free mower will be given away for each session.
The initiative kicks off March 30, at 5:30 p.m. at the Central Park Community Center located at 1534 SW Clay St.
The next session will be on April 3, at 11:30 a.m. at the Hill Crest Community Center located at 1800 SE 21st.
Their last session will accommodate the Spanish-speaking community in the area, hosted on April 10 at 5:30 p.m. at the Salvation Army located at 1320 SE 6th Ave.
For more information on the initiative, you can click here to get to their homepage.