Boris Weinstein had one motivation when he started Citizens Against Litter several years ago -- clean streets. But he wanted it so badly, with such contagious exuberance, that his litter detail has grown into something more.

	Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Boris Weinstein in a 2005 photo.

His 2006 collaboration with Homewood, a forging of anti-litter activities, black-Jewish camaraderie and cross-neighborhood cohesion, has won a national "program excellence award" for the United Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs in New York.

The national council also cited the merit of the coalition's potential for replication around the country.

Last spring, while helping the local federation launch a cleanup in Squirrel Hill, Mr. Weinstein suggested joining hands with one in Homewood. He had read of an anti-litter effort on Tacoma Street there.

He called Kiva Fisher-Green, who initiated the Tacoma cleanup. With the East Side Community Collaborative and Operation Better Block, two Homewood partners, they began meeting and planning.

On Sept. 18-19, 300 people turned out for a weekend cleanup -- Saturday in Homewood, Sunday in Squirrel Hill. Residents of both neighborhoods showed up for each other's, and afterward, they picnicked in Mellon Park. The Homewood-Squirrel Hill Redd-Up Coalition was forged.

Of numerous projects the local federation could have nominated for the award, "we thought this was the best contender," said Jeff Cohan, director of community and public affairs for the UJF. The award ceremony is Sunday in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Weinstein, a retired marketing executive, calls what he does "collecting and connecting."

"Seventy-five years on," he said, "and I now know that one person can make a difference."

After making daily litter rounds of his Shadyside home for years, Mr. Weinstein started Citizens Against Litter two years ago and began building a force of volunteers, each of whom had a zone in Shadyside. He wrote editorials and letters to editors. He called policy makers, urging their attention to litter violations. He has advised more than a dozen neighborhood groups throughout the city, sharing his volunteer "zone" concept and helping organize Citizens Against Litter clubs.

With the first call to Homewood, he initiated a union of two allies who had lost touch for some time. Blacks and Jews stood together in persecution and liberation from World War II through the civil rights struggles, but the amity dissipated and was replaced, in some cases, by territorial clashes. A notable example was rioting in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1991.

Urban conflict hasn't split the groups in Pittsburgh, but it was still a surprise to Homewood activists when a 75-year-old Jewish man from Squirrel Hill made entreaties of partnership.

Bernadette Turner, executive director of the East Side Community Collaborative, said each neighborhood harbored preconceived notions about life in the other until the groups started meeting to plan the fall cleanup, taking turns between Squirrel Hill and Homewood.

"Having them come to our neighborhood and us going to theirs, we shared our concerns and could see what it was we both have and don't have. It turned out not to be so different.

"A lot of preconceived notions then go out the window.

"It's given us hope that we can have what other neighborhoods have and develop relationships with them," she said.

This year, the Homewood Squirrel Hill Redd-Up Coalition is planning for an April 27-29 cleanup, this time soliciting schools to get students to start it off on Friday.

A name change may be in order soon.

After the first cleanup, Mr. Weinstein reached out again, seeking participation from the neighborhoods between Squirrel Hill and Homewood -- Point Breeze, North Point Breeze and Park Place.

"It became very obvious that what we had was something special," said Mr. Weinstein, who said he will encourage the coalition to agree to invite an East Liberty person to the next meeting.

"I told him, 'If our coalition approves this and we do it again in the fall, would you join us? And bring along Highland Park.' "