“When the going gets tough, PRNS gets going” says, Olympia Williams, Program Manager for the #BeautifySJ initiative.

#PRNSBest employees contribute in many ways for our community. Whether it’s interactive programming, parks and greenspace development, food distribution, parks maintenance or connecting our residents with resources, PRNS is there to help build our community.

A key program is the BeautifySJ Initiative that coordinates litter pickups, trash abatement on the streets and neighborhood and school clean-up events. BeautifySJ builds community pride by bringing people and organizations together to remove litter and trash in our city.

It is through BeautifySJ that residents become engaged and empowered to help improve their neighborhoods complete projects and beautification efforts that could not have been accomplished with City resources alone.

A member of PRNS for the last 14 years guiding the department’s Anti-Litter and Anti-Graffiti programs, Williams and her #PRNSBest team has had to make changes in what they do during the CoVid-19 pandemic.

With our most vulnerable populations hit hard, this team has pivoted their work to serve the 60 different homeless encampments throughout our community helping pick-up trash. Using social distancing guidelines and face mask coverings at all times, the team and volunteers strive to ensure safe practices while helping to clean these areas.

When protests began across the nation and in San José, there was an increase of trash and graffiti. Our #PRNSBest employees and volunteers got up the next day at 4:30 a.m. to begin cleaning over 160 tons of trash and removing 90,000 square feet of graffiti. We are proud of the Anti-Graffiti efforts as city staff and volunteers came together to remove the graffiti and clean up the areas.

With PRNS’ frontline workers always willing to help out our residents, our city has been able to use this team and their passionate volunteers, to keep our city clean and beautiful during these unprecedented times. We thank our #PRNSBest employees for all they continue to do.

To learn more about the BeautifySJ Initiative, please visit BeautifySJ's page.