Making and keeping McAllen beautiful starts with the community.

It's why the city is launching a new program to get people who call McAllen home involved. Members of the newly created Citizen's Code Academy will not only help clean up problem areas around the city, but civilian code enforcers will also help keep issues from popping back up.

People who enroll in the academy will go through training and will learn about the city's top 10 violations, like illegal dumping. The training will also cover city ordinances.

"Having an extra set of eyes on the street, reporting back to us," said McAllen Assistant city Manager Michelle Rivera. "They're not going to being enforcing the law themselves but were going to teach them about what to look for."

Six code enforcers on staff will teach the training course, out of the 18 code officers that are employed with the city of McAllen.

If you're interested in participating in this free academy, you must be at least 18 years old.

The city says space is filling up fast. There are only 10 spots left to join.

If you're interested in enrolling, click here.