$4.7M in Grants Awarded by Arbor Day Foundation to Strengthen Urban Forests in Underserved Areas

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$4.7M in Grants Awarded by Arbor Day Foundation to Strengthen Urban Forests in Underserved Areas

date 09/05/24

LINCOLN, Nebraska (September 5, 2024) - The Arbor Day Foundation subawards $4.7 million in urban forestry grants to 18 community-based nonprofits in partnership with the USDA Forest Service. The Foundation's Community Roots Program, a grant opportunity established with Inflation Reduction Act funds, saw great demand in its first phase with more than 230 applicants.

The grants awarded will be used to plant trees, grow green spaces, and foster environmental justice in disadvantaged communities of greatest need, as defined by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. Proposed projects range in focus from addressing the urban heat island effect, to natural disaster recovery, to establishing food forests. A full list of the community-based nonprofit subawardees is below.

"Trees are a critical part of building healthy and resilient cities. The overwhelming response to our Community Roots Program underscores the immense need for continued investment in urban and community forestry," said Dan Lambe, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. "We're confident these local organizations will leverage this funding to maximize the positive impact trees can have in the neighborhoods that need it most."

The USDA Forest Service awarded the Arbor Day Foundation a $50 million Inflation Reduction Act grant in 2023. The nonprofit has already subawarded $27 million of the funding to municipalities in 14 states.

The same grant helped the Arbor Day Foundation create the Community Roots Program. The program's first phase subawarded funding to community-based nonprofits. The second phase will subaward $8 million to Tribes and Tribal organizations across the country. The application portal for this second phase of funding will remain open through September 30 and can be accessed here.

	COMMUNITY ROOTS PROGRAM FUNDING RECIPIENTS
Awardee	Project Name	Area of Focus
Alief Super Neighborhood Council	Alief Arbor Initiative	Alief, TX
Alliance for Cape Fear Trees	Capacity Building to Improve the Canopy Through Integrated Tree Care and Community Outreach	Wilmington, NC
Beyond Housing	24:1 Tree Canopy Restoration	St. Louis, MO
Denver Urban Gardens	Dig Deeper Initiative: Food Forests	Denver, CO
Forest ReLeaf of Missouri	CommuniTree Program Expansion	Kansas City & St. Louis, MO, and communities across Missouri
Friends of Bellefontaine Cemetery	Enhancing Community and Ecological Health through Tree Management	St. Louis, MO
Friends of the Rappahannock	Expanding Urban and Community Forestry Opportunities in the Rappahannock and York River Watershed	Various communities in Virginia
Friends of the Urban Forest	Adopt-A-Yard-Tree	San Francisco, CA
Mississippi Children's Museum-Meridian	Deep Roots Urban Pocket Park	Meridian, MS
Newport Tree Conservancy	Increasing Tree Canopy and Environmental Stewardship in Newport	Newport, RI
Oregon Urban Rural and Community Forestry	Rogue Valley's Treesilience: Transforming Urban Canopies Together	Jackson County, OR
Roytens Enrichment Academy Community Hope (REACH)	TreeVitalize: Sowing Community Roots Together	California City, CA
Sacramento Tree Foundation	Community Forests and Education	Sacramento, CA
Serve Ethiopians Washington	South King County Tree Captains	Seattle, WA
Speak for the Trees	NeighborWoods	Boston, MA
Sustaining Our Urban Landscape (SOUL)	Reforesting New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward	New Orleans, LA
Tree Trust	Cooling Northern Dakota County	Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN
ReTreeUs	Growing Roots of Environmental Justice through School and Community Orchard Capacity Building	Various communities across Maine and New Hampshire

About the Arbor Day Foundation

Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation is the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. Together with our partners, we have helped plant more than 500 million trees in neighborhoods, communities, cities and forests throughout the world. Our vision is to lead toward a world where trees are used to solve issues critical to survival. Through our members, partners and programs, the Arbor Day Foundation inspires people across the globe to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. More information is available at arborday.org.?

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