Last night, city councilmembers in the small Texas town of Marlin, a suburb of Waco, unanimously passed an ordinance creating the Marlin Community Initiative (MCI), an innovative community service program crafted with the help of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Local Governance and Center for Effective Justice.
 
The MCI is an effort to save taxpayer money by allowing a mix of individuals serving community service hours for probation and community volunteers to clean up city streets and sidewalks. Once the program has been fully implemented, it will operate once per week to remove litter and debris from city streets and sidewalks, as well as to mow public areas.

Here’s more from today’s press release:

“This groundbreaking program makes Marlin a leader among Texas cities in fostering community engagement to fill an important local need,” said Jess Fields, Senior Policy Analyst with the Center for Local Governance. 
 
“This program has the potential not only to beautify Marlin but to bolster public safety, as well. The Marlin Community Initiative provides probationers the chance to contribute firsthand to the city’s revitalization,” said Derek Cohen, Policy Analyst in the Center for Effective Justice.

The MCI is a small but exciting step on the city’s road to recovery which, in time, is sure to produce both economic and community benefits. 

 

Photo is "Toya, Texas" by Spencer Blake, and is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.