Will County Gazette

The City of Joliet recently recognized a number of residents for their work in keeping their properties and neighborhoods beautiful.

Jayne Bernard and Councilwoman Jan Quillman honored ten of the year’s Neighborhood Hero Award winners at the Sept. 6 Joliet Pre-council meeting, recorded on YouTube. 

The Neighborhood Hero program is dedicated to honoring citizens who have given great care and work for their yard and landscaping and demonstrated great pride in taking care of and enhancing their own property and also their neighborhood. 

"Project Acclaim’s Mission is to promote a positive image of Joliet area and its people, engage residents and organizations to make their neighborhoods better, as well as partner with anyone or any organization working towards the same," Jayne Bernard, City of Joliet planner and president of Project Acclaim, said in the meeting. 

There were 18 total winners in 2022, 10 of which were honored at the City Council meeting. The project has been in existence for many years but recently shifted to a more inter-neighborhood focus and has grown each year. Only residents who do their own landscaping can be nominated, and all winners were nominated by their neighbors. 

Among the winners was a young couple who moved into the old parsonage in the summer of 2020 and continues to fix up the property and the yard. There were also households that have been around for multiple decades in the same property, and one winner who has been in the same house for 47 years.