 The first annual Community Beautification Project took place on Saturday, October 30, 1999 in the City Heights area of San Diego…and was a huge success! Created by Lonny Mitchell, senior wide receiver for the San Diego State University (SDSU) Aztecs, and organized by AFE, along with SDSU Athletics and Project CLEAN, the project brought more than 100 student athletes from SDSU into the community to paint out graffiti and pick up trash. The students, representing multiple sports teams, spent five hours working, and collected over four thousand pounds of trash and painted over graffiti in the allies eight blocks north, east, west, and south from the City Heights Recreation Center and Urban Village.
Afterwards, the volunteers enjoyed lunch, music provided by Jammin' Z-90 radio station's DJ Cool T (Terry Spears of Universal Mobile Sound), a dance performance by the Modern Image Dance Studio, and a free-form game of football between the Aztec athletes and players from the Clark Middle School football team.
 Lonny Mitchell, a San Diego native who graduated from Serra High School and once lived in City Heights, developed this project out of a sincere desire to give back to the community, and a strong belief in the importance of encouraging other athletes to be involved and to volunteer.
The Host sponsors for this event were California Heritage Financial Network, Inc. and SDG&E; sponsors include Project CLEAN, who supplied the paint, supplies, and four seasoned graffiti “painter outers.” Other sponsors: Dixie Line, Woodstock Pizza, Dagwood’s Eatery, Nokia, S.D. Police Department – Mid-City Division, SoCal Ice Productions, Met-Rx Engineered Nutrition, Coca-Cola, New Horizons Computer Learning Center, Mission Janitorial Supplies, New Bethel Baptist Church, Weekend Warrior Alpine Paint Ball Park, and Active Graphix Screen Printing & Awards.
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