Volunteers are being sought for a community gardening effort taking place June 16 across from Futures Academy in Buffalo.

As part of a longstanding initiative to help beautify Buffalo’s Fruit Belt neighborhood, UB’s Center for Urban Studies is organizing a “weeding blitz” from 1-4 p.m. in the community garden directly across from Futures Academy, 155 Orange St., Buffalo.

The main target of the weeding effort will be the berm, where the heaviest concentration of plants and flowers is located. During the spring, before the community garden is reopened, there is always a heavy overgrowth of weeds, explains Henry-Louis Taylor Jr., professor of urban and regional planning, and director of the Center for Urban Studies, part of UB’s Community Health Equity Research Institute.

Members of the UB and greater Buffalo communities, and local organizations that would like to participate in the event or have questions may contact A.S.M. Abdul Bari, program assistant for the Center for Urban Studies, at 716-829-5910, or asmbari@buffalo.edu.

The Center for Urban Studies in May held its 21st annual Fruit Belt Clean-a-Thon, during which volunteers did beautification work and picked up garbage over several blocks in the Fruit Belt.