Almost every town, city and district has one, owned and run by the communities.

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However, an empty shops scheme run by a Communities First project has helped secure several new tenants and won an award for its work.

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These New Yorkers have seen other communities in neighboring states like Pennsylvania run over by an industry that promised them heaps of cash, but instead the communities report groundwater contamination, contaminated flow-back waste, road-ripping truck traffic and clouds of cancer-causing chemicals.

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Advice points, run by volunteers, are also available in local communities and there is a hotline for people who want information.

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Britain in Bloom is an annual award ceremony run by the Royal Horticultural Society aimed at encouraging local communities to get involved in horticulture and take environmental responsibility for their local area.

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The CaliforniaFIRST program, run by Oakland-based Renewable Funding for the California Statewide Communities Development Authority ( CSCDA), is available to owners of office, multi-family residential (5 or more units), retail, industrial, and agriculture properties in 14 counties and 126 cities.

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These entities are often run by entrepreneurs and socially-minded innovators driven to improve health for their communities.

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