Upside down photo of volunteers working in a garden

Volunteer with the Beautification Brigade!

Plant flowers, weed and tend to gardens, and keep Ithaca beautiful.

Beautification Brigade

The Beautification Brigade runs volunteer sessions from April-November. Join anytime, no experience necessary!

Volunteers with the Tompkins County Community Beautification Program are called the "Beautification Brigade." They help to make Ithaca more beautiful while learning useful gardening tips and techniques. The Brigade plants and maintains spring and summer flowers on city traffic medians and the Ithaca Commons. 

Weekly work sessions are generally held on either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday with occasional weekend dates. A weekly email lets the volunteers know where the work sessions will be. To be added to our email list, please email us at beautification [at] cornell.edu (beautification[at]cornell[dot]edu.)

Clubs, service groups, schools, fraternities and sororities are all welcome to volunteer! There are a wide variety of gardening and landscaping projects in Ithaca that can use YOUR HELP! We need the most help during May and June for planting, and again in October and November for clean-up. If you'd like to help out, please be in touch with us. 

The volunteer job description is viewable here. To get in touch with us about volunteering, email us at beautification [at] cornell.edu (beautification[at]cornell[dot]edu.)

All CCE volunteers will be asked to consent to a criminal background screening at Cooperative Extension's expense, as a means of ensuring the safety and security both of our volunteers and of the people we serve through our programs. 

Our annual orientation meetings are scheduled for March.

Beautification Brigade Volunteer Job Description

Beautification Brigade volunteers support the Community Beautification Program in the planting and maintenance of public landscape plantings around the City of Ithaca. Volunteers work under the supervision of Community Beautification staff members. Work is done using standard gardening hand tools, which are provided. Gardening gloves are also provided.  No gardening experience is necessary, Beautification Staff will provide instruction as needed. 

Duties: 

  • Attend annual volunteer orientation session.
  • Gardening activities include (but not limited to) seeding, planting, weeding, mulching, dividing, trimming, watering, trash and litter pickup, other site maintenance as needed.  
  • Working at busy sites that are often situated near traffic. 

Time Commitment: 

  • The Beautification Brigade has volunteer sessions 1-3 times per week from April through November. Sessions are usually held Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and/or Thursdays from 10am12pm. During the summer there are evening volunteer sessions every other Tuesday from 6pm-8pm. There are occasional Saturday sessions.  There are no minimum requirements for volunteer hours to complete. Our program is informal, and we will work with the people we have.  

Benefits for Volunteers: 

  • Volunteers will receive a Beautification Brigade T-shirt and Hat
  • Training and information on gardening techniques, best practices, etc.
  • Extra plants as available
  • Volunteer appreciation event at the end of the season
  • Working outside in nature and improving your community 

Qualifications:  

  • Interest in gardening, landscaping, and acquiring new horticulture skills.  
  • Enthusiasm for helping the community and ability to communicate with other volunteers and program staff, as well as the general public.
  • You must provide your own transportation to and from volunteer sessions. 

Application Forms: Follow the steps below to join us!

STEP 1: Indicate your interest in the Beautification Brigade by emailing us at beautification [at] cornell.edu (beautification[at]cornell[dot]edu).

STEP 2: Fill out the volunteer enrollment materials. Please note that the forms will be filled out online through Adobe Sign, and you will provide an electronic signature. The forms will be transmitted to CCE securely. If you have questions about this process, or need assistance, please contact us. Paper forms will also be available at volunteer sessions.

For New Volunteers:

  1. Casual Volunteer Application Form (indicate Beautification Brigade in the Agriculture/Horticulture Program Name)
  2. Screening Consent form

For Re-Enrolling Volunteers:

  1. Re-Enrollment Form
  2. You may be asked to fill out the Screening Consent form if it is not already on file. We'll let you know!

STEP 3: Please visit the CCE Sexual Harassment Prevention Training page and follow the instructions to view the 10-minute video and confirm your participation.