Adopt-A-Spot in Hampton! 

It takes everyone to make a city beautiful. Adopt-A-Spot Programs provide support and recognition to those who share their time, expertise, and enthusiasm with us in helping to keep Hampton clean and beautiful.

Adopt-A-Spot sites can be any public area in the city, with the approval of the officials who have oversight of those sites. For example, spots open for adoption can be roadways, medians, schools, storm drain ponds, public parking lots, community centers, beaches, waterways, and many more.

Adopt-A-Spot participants can be individuals, families, members of civic and faith organizations, businesses, governmental agencies, and others. Adopt-A-Spot participants agree to maintain their “spot” at least four times a year for three years. In exchange, volunteers are provided with materials to help them clean up and/or beautify the area. At the end of the three-year period, volunteers may renew their contract for another three years with approval of the City.  

Typical Adopt-A-Spot sites involve litter cleanup, but the City also offers a Beautification Adopt-A-Spot program to enables participants to plant and maintain landscaped beds, entryways, planters, and other areas as approved by the City. The application and review process is different, depending on whether the participant is interested in litter cleanup only or would also like to include beautification in their efforts. 

 

By Adopting Your Spot

  • You are attaching a more personal identity to the site - the name of your organization, family or your own name.
  • You add a sense of ownership to a site people looked at previously as belonging to no one.
  • You and your group members are not people who are paid to pick up litter or beautify the site - you are "regular people" - and that sense of community will make people think twice about littering or otherwise impacting the site.
  • You will be making a significant contribution to the City of Hampton. In the past five years, Adopt-A-Spot volunteers contributed more than 20,000 hours of their time in helping to clean up the city. That's 2,500-plus days' worth of litter cleanup that allowed the Parks and Recreation Department staff to turn their attention to other tasks. By working together, we stretch our resources while showing our pride in our city.

Key Points

  • Any individual (18 years or older), community group, youth organization (supervised by adults), civic organization, business, church or other group may adopt public areas in Hampton - public areas are streets, parks, vacant lots owned by the city, schools and other publicly held lands.
  • The adopting individuals or organizations commit to cleaning up or beautifying the adopted site at least four times a year for three years.
  • Those who complete 10 or more cleanups or beautification workdays annually receive special recognition at the Volunteer Recognition Dinner.
  • In return a sign that recognizes their contributions may be placed at the site. The signs are ordered from local sign makers. They are placed and maintained by the Hampton Parks and Recreation Department staff. If the participants are unable to honor their agreements, the signs will be removed.
  • Participants are required to report the results of their cleanups and beautification projects to the Hampton Clean City Commission office so the information can be used in various reports and analyses.
  • The results of the cleanups and beautification projects are reported regularly to the Hampton City Council.

Request Information

The basic guidelines of the program are simple, and the rewards are many. Won't you please join us? For more information or for an Adopt-A-Spot packet, fill out the request form and you will receive information by email or mail.

Parties interested in highway cleanups should contact the Virginia Department of Transportation’s “Adopt-A-Highway” program.