As the paint on your neighbor’s house goes, so goes the neighborhood.

At least that’s what organizers of an attempt to beautify some of Buffalo’s dilapidated areas said they hoped was the case Saturday, as 300 volunteers repainted 16 homes in University Heights.

“It helps the homeowners,” said Roseann Scibilia, president of Brush Up Buffalo. “It shows the neighbors there’s a community spirit.”

Organizers of the project, now in its 13th year, each year identify a section of the city that they think would benefit from some fresh paint. Volunteers then pick 15 to 20 houses to spruce up, basing their decisions on building conditions, occupational and economic factors. Although organizers admit they are not able to tackle all houses on a given block, they believe that seeing neighboring homes with a new coat of paint can inspire neighbors to paint their own homes, Scibilia said.

Previous Brush Up Buffalo target areas included the Lovejoy District, Schiller Park and the city’s West Side, near Plymouth Avenue and Hudson Street.

On Saturday, Othaman Rafeek watched from the yard as 15 or so newly trained painters worked steadily to conceal a long-faded coat of cream on his girlfriend’s house. The new look: white siding with green trim. Rafeek said he last repainted the house with family members more than a decade ago.

“We do the best we can, but we don’t have the money,” said Rafeek, who said he lives on disability benefits after having had both hips replaced. “This house is on the corner; it made the neighborhood look rundown.”

On the other side of Bailey Avenue, Drew Herman, 24, spent much of the morning chipping off hardened yellow flakes from a house in the 300 block of Lisbon Avenue.

A second-year student in the University at Buffalo’s master of business administration program, Herman said he wanted to change suburbanites’ often negative perceptions of city neighborhoods.

“I think in a small step, it does [change the neighborhood],” Herman said. “Someone could be driving by and have a bad impression. Now they won’t.”

From the driveway, Tom Kinney, 60, watched with envy as he looked back at his two-story brick house with chipped siding. The Buffalo native went so far as to ask how he could get the same treatment for his home.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Kinney, who said he sees the effort as part of a gradual improvement of his block since the mid- 1990s. “Just a little bit of work goes a long way.”