Equipped with gloves and masks, volunteers gathered on Sunday, January 14, 2024, to participate in the “Spin The Block” event. A community service project aimed at cleaning the streets of downtown beginning at the Forsyth and Brotherton intersection, “Spin the Block,” began that morning. 

“Before I had the studio, I was just a photographer,” said founder and owner of Cam Kirk Studios,  Cam Kirk. “But when I opened up the studio six and a half years ago, I just met so many young creators, I met so many real people from the city, and it just inspired me to want to build a community around our business.”

“Spin the Block” serves as a predecessor to the studio’s “Yesterday’s Tomorrow” conference on MLK Day, which has featured comedian D.C Youngfly, Ryan Wilson, CEO & Co-Founder of The Gathering Spot, and artist-musician J.I.D. Entry to the conference is now facilitated through community cleanup participation. 

Spin The Block first came into action in 2019 and has been a regularly recurring event happening every quarter since, with Cam Kirk adopting Forsyth and Brotherton streets. “All the blue and black trash cans and recycling bins, we put those out there. We put 25 different recycling bins and trash cans. The first recycling to exist on the street, just encouraging people to know the difference between trash and going green,” said Kirk.

Volunteers, including Ebony Watson from Stone Mountain, a psych coordinator from the Sync Community Learning Center in Decatur, who decided to volunteer after seeing Shelly Nicole Andrews’ Instagram post, the president of the Cam Kirk Foundation. “I love cleaning up our community, cleaning up trash. People live on the streets and if we make it cleaner for them, it’ll do something to make the world a better place,” said Watson.

Larger groups, such as the “New Look” Leadership…