A large group of people turned out Saturday to help clean around Hope Academy and Mulberry Road.

Keep it Clean Selma kicked off its first cleanup day. The campaign aims to clean up the city’s streets and clean up any negativity surrounding Selma.

Project coordinator for Keep it Clean Selma Amy Carmichael said if people take pride in the Queen City they should also take care of it.

“To take pride in the city, we have to keep it clean,” she said. “It’s also about the negativity too, and there’s a lot of that here. We just want to give people a reason to be proud to live here.”

She said the campaign would focus on cleansing the city about once a month throughout the year. Carmichael also said the initiative will unify different organizations for a common goal.

A legion of community members, including the Boys Scouts of America and Hope Academy, participated in the cleanup. The Compass Program, which is designed to help youth in the community, also leaned volunteers. In addition, the SPAN, a behavioral and educational modification program, joined in.

Judge Bob Armstrong turned in his judicial robe for a hat, shorts and a T-shirt as he got down to work Saturday. He said if the community wants better, then it has to do better. Armstrong believes the campaign will be beneficial for the future.

“Instead of complaining about no jobs, or a depressed economy, we need to focus on solutions,” he said. “There’s a connection between economic development, job creation and a clean community.”

With a clean city, prospective business owners might develop a interest in starting their businesses in Selma, he said. An unkempt city might prove to be detrimental to their businesses, Armstrong said.

“We’re going to clean up our community,” Armstrong said. “So when people come, they’ll see people who care.”

Businesses might not have seen the cleanup effort yet, but residents in targeted neighborhoods did. The cleanup was contagious, as they copied what they saw.

“When they saw what we we’re doing, and I told them about it, they joined in,” Armstrong said. “They started raking their yards and cleaning up. I explained to them we’re not just trying to pick up trash. We’re trying to change attitudes in our community.”