Federal grant allows GR nonprofit to improve environmental equity

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — When you think of trees, racial injustice might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but for generations, many people in the Black community haven’t had access to their benefits.

“We just can’t state enough the benefits of trees from a physical and mental health standpoint,” said Stacy Bare, executive director of Friends of Grand Rapids Parks.

Trees help mitigate extreme heat, conserve energy, provide shade, absorb stormwater, create habitats for wildlife, and filter air and water. Since 2008, Friends of GR Parks has been working to bring those benefits to everyone.

“We have planted about 3,000 trees, the city has planted another about 7,000 trees since we started tree planting really intensively under Mayor (Rosalynn) Bliss’ leadership,” said Bare.

But as Bare will tell you, the work is nowhere near done, and the main focus is communities of color. In partnership with the city of Grand Rapids, the nonprofit is working to cover 40% of the city with a healthy tree canopy.

“Over the last several years we’ve been working to plant trees where trees haven’t been,” Bare explained. “So there are three big corridors in Grand Rapids where because of redlining and historic exploitation. If you link about Cesar Chavez, Grandville corridor, South Division corridor and the near West Side, there have not been enough trees planted. Folks have been losing out on all the benefits.”

A grant from the United States Department of Agriculture will allow them to continue that work.

“It’s the biggest grant we’ve ever got for planting trees in Grand Rapids,” Bare said.

Five million dollars over the next five years will be translated into trees, jobs and improved forest health. Bare said the application process was rigorous.

“We had 30 days to write the grant and get it submitted and get all the letters of support together, so it was kind of all hands on deck.”

The agency selected 385 proposals out of 824 applicants, and Bare believes community collaboration made all the difference.

“We couldn’t do it without (Community Collaboration on Climate Change), we couldn’t do it without our community participation, and we certainly couldn’t do it without our volunteers,” said Bare.

“We had congresswoman (Hillary) Scholten, we had Mayor Bliss. It’s a nonpartisan issue when it comes to trees, and it was really amazing to see so many people come together to say how do we make our city in West Michigan better.”

Kareem Scales, board co-chair for the Community Collaboration on Climate Change or C4, said the environmental space isn’t typically one that’s inhabited by people of color.

“This conversation, in a lot of ways, has been a privileged conversation. When we’re talking to communities that are already experiencing disparities, the environment doesn’t always rise to the top of the list.”

C4’s mission is to elevate the voices of those who’ve been impacted by environmental injustice, which is why Scales said it was a perfect fit to partner with Friends of GR Parks on this initiative.

“We know that tree density is directly connected to housing values, is directly connected to public safety, ” he explained. “We see this as a huge opportunity to one, provide more education and awareness to our community members to know why it’s important to have a dense tree canopy, but also it’s important because the number of jobs and the economic impact that this project and this initiative is going to have on the communities where those trees will be planted.”

Bare said over the next five years, people will see this grant in action.

“They’ll see people out planting trees, they’ll have an opportunity to come plant trees, they’ll have an opportunity to see their youth get jobs in forestry which is a booming industry.”

The goal is to plant 15,000 trees in the next five years, but at a price tag of $650 to $800, they’ll need more than the federal grant.

“We’ve got the $5 million which is fantastic, but the dream sheet doesn’t stop there for all the trees that we need to plant. So, we are actively fundraising to create at least a one-to-one match to make sure that all the trees and parks are taken care of in the city.”

Bare looks forward to the continued community collaboration, and the ripple effects this initiative will bring.

“It’s an exciting time. It’s really interesting to think that at the end of this, in five years’ time, we will have moved a long way to solving a generation problem, a generational injustice, by ensuring that every street that needs trees and wants trees will finally have the trees necessary.”

The city of Kalamazoo is also set to receive $1 million from the USDA Urban and Community Forestry grant. Public works division manager Anthony Ladd wrote the funds “would be focused on tree planting, tree maintenance, and tree removal for trees in declining condition.”

Since tree maintenance and tree removal are more costly activities, Ladd said the city would likely allocate more of the funding to those activities while ensuring that many more new trees were properly planted in these same areas.

“Over the last few years, with funding through the Foundation for Excellence (FFE) and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), we have been able to successfully perform programs of similar scope throughout the City,” Ladd wrote. “This would be the largest single investment in our urban forest and we are confident that we can diligently accomplish this work that will bolster large environmental benefits for the City.”

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