Expand<\/a><\/p>\nThe UNICO volunteers planted dianthus \u2014 which Ward described a very hearty annual flower that can withstand a frost or freeze.<\/p>\n
Peter Cognetti, past president of the UNICO National Scranton Chapter, noted the Italian-American organization and Scranton Tomorrow share many of the same values.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a service day that we\u2019ve been doing for decades and the last few years we\u2019ve been coordinating with Scranton Tomorrow, in terms of beautifying downtown Scranton,\u201d Cognetti said. \u201cWe think it\u2019s symbolic of our commitment to the community as well as Scranton Tomorrow\u2019s commitment to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ward stressed Scranton Tomorrow \u2014 a nonprofit community and economic development organization \u2014 wouldn\u2019t be able to fulfill its goal of improving the city without the help of many volunteers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have about 150 planters downtown, and we do about 30,000 flowers every year, so it\u2019s a monumental task,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s very encouraging to see people take ownership of the community, and really invest their time and their efforts in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with UNICO, the University of Scranton is among Scranton Tomorrow\u2019s most valued partners, Ward said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a downtown stakeholder and it\u2019s nice to see every level \u2014\u00a0from the students all the way up to the faculty and administration \u2014 be involved in our program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In another initiative to benefit the city, Scranton Tomorrow contracted with Block by Block this past September \u2014 for one year \u2014\u00a0to spruce up the downtown on a daily basis, including removing litter, weeds and graffiti, clearing snow and ice from curb ramps at corners, and generally serving as goodwill ambassadors to visitors and residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst thing in the morning, they do a street sweep and pick up as much litter as they can,\u201d Ward said. \u201cThey also note things like graffiti or stickers on poles, as well as any kind of blight issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
UNICO National Scranton Chapter member Deborah Solomon of Mayfield took part in the planting event for the first time this year and enjoys helping other members carry out UNICO\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really is a good organization that helps a lot of people out,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m glad I\u2019m a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another UNICO member Jon Geraci of West Scranton lent a helping hand for a second consecutive year and praised Scranton Tomorrow officials for their ongoing work in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re doing a great job beautifying the city and giving the city more appeal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014 About 20 volunteers from the UNICO National Scranton Chapter gathered on a cool, blustery Saturday morning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-163336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/STT-L-BEAUTIFICATION-2-0412.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"UNICO](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/STT-L-BEAUTIFICATION-3-0412.jpeg?w=620\")
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