Maria Gaona's wishes for her west Oak Cliff neighborhood are these: less nuisance crime, fewer robberies and more places for children to safely play.

AMY CONN-GUTIERREZ / Special Contributor

Cindy Leon, 3, paints a flower pot during Dallas' Pride in your Neighborhood on Saturday at Arcadia Recreation Center in Dallas. Cindy and other residents of seven Dallas neighborhoods are working to improve their communities by making them better to look at and live in.

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"But we need more organization and education in the community to get this done," Ms. Gaona said.

The newly initiated Pride in Your Neighborhood program, a joint venture of Dallas City Hall's Sanitation Services department and the nonprofit Keep Dallas Beautiful, is intended to fill that void.

Funding the program with $453,000 in city storm water fees, organizers aim to empower the residents of seven struggling Dallas neighborhoods – Arcadia Park, Arlington Park, Beverly Hills, Cedar Oaks, Dixon Circle, Fordham Road and Singing Hills – with tools to combat crime and blight.

In some cases, that entails simple shovels, rakes and paint for collecting trash and abating graffiti.

More essential is helping residents initiate crime watch programs, neighborhood advisory boards and community action plans, said Freddie Guerra, a project manager with Keep Dallas Beautiful.

"The residents know best about their neighborhoods, but unfortunately, they may not have the resources or the know-how to solve some problems," Mr. Guerra said Saturday at a Pride in Your Neighborhood kick-off event at Arcadia Park. "We want to help people reinvest in their own communities. We're here to work with them."

For Mary Nix, director of Dallas' Sanitation Services, street-level progress in these neighborhoods isn't merely a goal.

"We expect – expect – to see well over what we're investing in terms of customer satisfaction," she said. "Our communities are ripe for this to take root."

Some city officials also expect to face barriers in winning the interest and trust of community residents reluctant to fight back against persistent criminal activity, or even join a litter pick-up crew.

Such realities hardly dissuade Whitney Sanderlin, a Dallas assistant city attorney and west Oak Cliff's community prosecutor.

"Even two people showing interest is, to me, a group in a place that doesn't have community groups," said Ms. Sanderlin, adding that active residents are her eyes and ears in pursuing nagging city code violations that erode the quality of a community.