Project Front Yard Coordinator Achieves "Keep America Beautiful" Certification

Photo of Skyra Rideaux displaying certification with Mayor-President Joel Robideaux

Project Front Yard Coordinator Achieves Keep America Beautiful Certification

First in Professional Certification in Louisiana

At its national conference earlier this year, Keep America Beautiful (KAB) named Project Front Yard Coordinator Skyra Rideaux to the latest class of Certified Community Environmental Professionals. Rideaux is the only person in Louisiana with this status.

KAB, the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, developed the Professional Certification Program to enhance its local affiliates’ knowledge of behavior change approaches to improve a community’s environment. Behavior change – steeped in education, research and behavioral science – is the cornerstone of KAB.

“Graduates of the Keep America Beautiful Professional Certification Program are setting a higher standard for our affiliates while enhancing their professional stature,” said Randy Hartmann, Senior Director of Affiliate Operations at Keep America Beautiful. “We’re very proud of Skyra, who is seeking to become more knowledgeable and more proficient in leading the Lafayette community to be more socially connected, environmentally healthy and economically sound.”

Rideaux is excited to put the training in action with Project Front Yard. “Having a clean and beautiful parish is about more than picking up litter, it is about changing our collective behavior toward our wildlife, our natural resources, and our community. We are known around the world for food, music and culture, but we can also be a place that is known for its beautiful clean rivers, litter-free Sportsman's Paradise, great oak trees and azaleas. That's what this certification does, it gives us a quantifiable, data-driven framework to build on our cultural pride and focus on creating a beautiful and welcoming built environment.”

Program participants are required to complete 10 hours of rigorous core classes on behavior change methodology, plus six hours of elective training; present at a local community meeting or conference and write a reflection on the presentation; write a book review and write two case studies highlighting how they are implementing behavioral change strategies locally. In addition, the KAB affiliate represented by the participant must be in Good Standing with the national organization and the applicant must have been in the role of an executive director for a minimum of two years or a staff member or volunteer board member for three years at the time of the first class.

About Project Front Yard

Project Front Yard empowers businesses, civic organizations and individuals – like you – to take positive action on making Lafayette the most vibrant, lively and beautiful community anywhere in the world. We work to restore our communities and neighborhoods through litter abatement, improved streetscapes, and revitalized gateways; to preserve our cultural assets and character by protecting and cleaning our watershed and waterways and celebrating and creating more green spaces; we advocate for economically and environmentally sustainable practices like zero waste and recycling. But we can’t do it without you! Get involved today and take a small step to support our big mission.

About Keep America Beautiful 
Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s leading community improvement nonprofit organization, inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful strives to end littering, improve recycling and beautify America’s communities. We believe everyone has a right to live in a clean, green and beautiful community, and shares a responsibility to contribute to that vision. Learn more at www.projectfrontyard.org/

Behavior change – steeped in education, research and behavioral science – is the cornerstone of Keep America Beautiful. We empower generations of community and environmental stewards with volunteer programs, hands-on experiences, educational curricula, practical advice and other resources. The organization is driven by the work and passion of more than 600 Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the collaborative support of corporate partners, social and civic service organizations, academia, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Donate and take action at kab.org.

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