In the Year of the Horse, Little Saigon San Diego Charges Forward with Clean California

By: Tram Lam, Little Saigon San Diego Executive Director

 

As a member of Little Saigon San Diego (LSSD), I’ve always believed that keeping our cultural spaces beautiful is a form of love for our elders, our businesses, and future generations. Today, that belief has become an official commitment. Little Saigon San Diego is proud to be recognized as a Clean California Designated Community. This designation is more than just a title. It affirms what our community has long known: caring for our neighborhood is an act of cultural preservation. We are not just cleaning a neighborhood but honoring a cultural home.

 

This time of the year, Asian communities are celebrating Lunar New Year. For Vietnamese people, it’s Tết; for Koreans, it’s Seollal, but for all of us, it is a time to sweep away the old and welcome renewal. In 2026, we celebrate the Year of the Horse, a symbol of energy, strength, and forward momentum. Traditionally, we clean our homes, remove clutter, and refresh altars and doorways before the New Year arrives. To do otherwise is believed to block good luck from entering.

This year, we are taking that tradition beyond our front doors and into the streets, sidewalks, and shared spaces of Little Saigon.

 

Since partnering with Clean California, our volunteers have removed 450 pounds of litter, organized four cleanups, restored sidewalks and public areas tagged with graffiti, partnered with local businesses to reduce illegal dumping, and planted beautification greenery and cultural elements.

 

When residents see us restoring the neighborhood with bags in hand, wearing gloves and smiles, something powerful happens. Shop owners step outside. Elders offer tea. Children ask to join. The work becomes contagious, because pride is contagious.

 

This Lunar New Year, as red envelopes are exchanged and lucky symbols hang in windows, we are also celebrating the spirit of renewal through action. Cleaning is not just physical; it is symbolic. It says: We care. We remember. We honor this place.

 

But we also know trash travels. It travels on our rivers to the ocean and beaches. It blows around our roads and communities. It falls off unsecure loads from trucks and roof carriers. It gets dump far from the home communities of illegal dumpers.

 

So, we invite other cultural districts, neighborhoods, community groups, and youth leaders across California to join us. If a small nonprofit with volunteers can remove 450 pounds of litter in just a few months, imagine what dozens of communities could do together and influence even more of our neighbors.

 

Join the Clean California movement. Host a cleanup. Adopt a block. Take the pledge and rally your students and families to join. Let’s welcome the Year of the Horse with bold, collective action and gallop forward into a cleaner, more united, more beautiful California. Zero litter is the goal.

 

To learn more about the Clean CA Designation program and take the pledge today, visit http://CleanCA.com/Designation.