City departments in Owasso are working together to keep their community clean and economically strong.The Owasso Strong Neighborhood Initiative believes that when neighborhoods look good, schools and bu sinesses thrive. Every holiday season, city departments grab their gloves and trash claws and hit the streets."Each department, before a holiday, will choose a specific area of the city, and we will do a cleanup day to try and beautify the city," Ryan Miller said.Miller, who works with the Owasso Strong Neighborhood Initiative, said the effort is about more than just picking up trash."We take 129th here from 76th street north to 86th street north and we basically just pick up trash and litter and make sure the entrances are spruced up," Miller said.Miller and his crew have picked up everything from drug needles to vape pens and even a bloody glove. He said this work has a broader purpose: protecting the local economy."We like to keep our community clean and inviting to everyone because certain areas, if they start going downhill, then other areas will be affected," Miller said. "Business will start leaving the area and some of the schools kind of start going downhill."The initiative also offers grants through the Owasso Community Foundation to help neighborhoods fund their own improvements.Lori Lane has seen the impact firsthand during her 11 years with the department. She started off as a volunteer and enjoyed the work so much that she became an official city employee."It's bringing a lot of pride out to see our neighborhoods grow and they become stronger because our department is available and we can help them out with a lot of resources," Lane said.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere -- 2 News Oklahoma on your schedule | Download on your TV, watch for free. How to watch on your streaming device Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices. Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram Watch LIVE 24/7 on YouTube ...read more read less