One local group is working to tackle the issue of crime by beautifying neighborhoods. Saving the world from A to Z, or ASEZ, is a group of university volunteers under the World Mission Society Church of God in over 8,000 locations.

“They’re going all around the world and doing these kinds of cleanups. That is bridging the gap to help us understand how to reduce crime,” said Michael Miller from the ASEZ Syracuse Chapter. Miller sites the “Broken Window Theory” as the reason behind their cleanup efforts. The idea of reducing visible signs of crime will make crime less likely to happen overall.

“We’ve decided to tackle vacant properties because when these properties go into foreclosure a lot of crime happens outside of it but also within it,” said Ashley Gonzalez from the ASEZ Syracuse Chapter. “So we’ve decided to tackle an area right outside of Syracuse University because there are a lot of students that live off campus. And recently there has been a lot of crime that has been happening so we decided to tackle this issue by cleaning up one of the vacant properties.”

Anyone who is interested in helping is invited to their Reduce Crime Together campaign. Students from OCC, Le Moyne and Cayuga Community College have been invited.

They’ll be cleaning up 214 East Colvin Street in Syracuse, Sunday May 5th between 9am and 11am. It is free and supplies will be provided along with bottled water for volunteers.

If you’d like more information about ASEZ visit WMSCOG.com/ASEZ.