Community Greening Corp

Programs: Community greening mobilized residents to take civic action by planting trees to improve the environment for people and nature. Community greening joined of the arbor day foundation's alliance for community trees, a national network of community organizations dedicated to planting and caring for trees. On a regional level, community greening is a recognized member of the state of florida's urban forestry council. Community greening has focused efforts to engage residents to increase the tree canopy in low-income neighborhoods. Churches, local youth mentoring groups, neighborhood associations, and city employees have joined the effort. In fy 16/17, community greening planted 475 trees with 500 volunteers at 14 planting events. Each tree is named and its eco-benefits are tracked in a publicly available database accessible on the website: www. Communitygreening. Org. Tree planting volunteers represented the following organizations: atlantic high school ib program, church of god delray beach, delray students first, ejs project, healthier delray beach, lexisnexis risk solutions, magic hat brewery, and palm healthcare. Community greening received in-kind supply donations from lexisnexis risk solutions and the barman foundation to purchase tools to bring to events. Funders included the city of delray beach and the community foundation of the palm beaches.

green spaces - community greening was awarded one of 20 national td green streets grants to convert a vacant lot and illegal dump site into a community grove. The community grove exemplifies what is possible when people work together. What started as a conversation about the cultural and historical importance of fruit trees to the elders of the neighborhood, is now a beautiful green space that has a chickee hut and 77 fruit trees requested and planted by the residents. On 4/29/17, 100 volunteers gathered to plant the trees, pick up litter and bring life to their neighborhood. The fruit trees are already bearing fruit and residents can be seen picking guavas and sugar apples for their families. Neighborhood resident tasheena johnson said, "the community grove is a natural, beautiful area that has been dedicated to the people of the carver park neighborhood. There is a plethora of fruit trees native and non-native that are now thriving right here in our backyard. I appreciate what community greening is doing for the city of delray. They are beautifying the small neighborhoods and providing fresh, organic and clean fruits to the people around the area. " funders included grass river garden club, the greater alliance foundation and the td charitable foundation.

public education -curriculum includes information on native plant gardens, fruit tree orchards and creating natural play areas. In june, 20 elementary aged students from the parks and recreation summer program attended an 8 course workshop titled "jr. Sprouts" at the community grove. Course topics include seeds; scouting for insects; plant anatomy; composting; photosynthesis; farm animals; where food comes from and planting a garden. At each tree planting, community greening staff educates volunteers about the importance of trees and the tree canopy. The following information is covered in various ways: trees have enormous benefits to mitigate the mounting environmental risks associated with a changing climate such as rising temperatures, increased flooding and species loss. It is a fact that 15 of the 16 warmest years on record have occurred during this century (noaa). A great benefit, particularly to south floridians, is that trees are amazing cooling devices as they release water and cool the air by providing shade. Due to sea level rise and the location of our communities along the coast, we are routinely experiencing the consequences of tidal events, storm surges and heavy rains. A robust green infrastructure of trees is an an effective strategy to capture stormwater runoff and clean and absorb floodwater. Habitat destruction equals species loss, and a biodiverse ecosystem is critical for our planet's function and survival. Planting diverse native trees that host pollinators enhances the quality and quantity that our ecosystems provide. According to the protecting and developing the urban tree canopy report from the us conference of city mayors, a common goal nationwide is to increase the tree canopy coverage to at least 35% of the city's landmass. Of the 135 mayors, 84% view trees as part of their overall sustainability and climate protection efforts. 38% of those have already adopted a sustainability or climate protection plan that specifically cites the contribution of trees or the tree canopy to achieving the plan's goals. 47% of the cities have made enlarging the tree canopy a stated goal. Nearly half anticipate being able to measure the carbon sequestered by their tree canopy within the next few years. Atlanta's tree canopy is 47%, washington, d. C. Has a 35% canopy with a goal of 40%, miami has a 19% canopy with a goal of 35%. Delray beach's overall tree canopy is 23%, with no goal currently.