Current Projects
2016 Recipients
- Bethlehem, PA
- Bloomfield, NJ
- Camden, NJ
- Hollywood, FL
- Miami, FL
- New Haven, CT
- Newburgh, NY
- Providence, RI
- Rock Hill, SC
- Worcester, MA
Bethlehem, PA
Through the TD Green Streets grant, the City of Bethlehem and its citizens will help transform Bethlehem’s smaller neighborhood parks into green and inviting oases. An essential element to the program is adding trees to parks serving walkable low- and moderate-income neighborhoods in all three original areas of the city.
After planting day, the focus will shift to a lively mix of community education, tree care, and publicity. The Mount Airy Neighborhood Association will organize citywide walks to welcome the new trees. Bethlehem Backyards for Wildlife teachers in the Bethlehem Area School District, assisted by Moravian College’s Civic Engagement Program, will develop a lesson on tree care and pamphlets for neighborhoods in English and Spanish. Grant-funded children’s books on trees will be purchased for the Bethlehem Area Public Library with both the Central Library and the Southside branch offering story hours with a tree care theme.
Bloomfield, NJ
The Township of Bloomfield will implement a comprehensive and collaborative tree planting initiative to increase the number of trees, particularly in Bloomfield’s low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. A critical part of the initiative will be community outreach and education to engage residents in planting and caring for trees and understanding the importance of healthy trees in the community. The Township will work closely with Greener Bloomfield, an organization that promotes sustainable living, working, and community in Bloomfield.
Together with Greener Bloomfield, the Department of Public Words, and additional community partners, the Township will plant and maintain 40 trees in Bloomfield. Trees will be planted during an Arbor Day event on the Township Green, a central open park where residents will be invited to participate in the tree planting celebration.
Camden, NJ
The City of Camden will partner with the New Jersey Tree Foundation—a nonprofit organization that has led community-based tree planting events since 2002—to implement aspects of Camden City’s Community Forestry Management Plan with funding from the TD Green Streets program. Acting on behalf of the City of Camden, the NJ Tree Foundation will plant trees, shrubs, and perennials to create new public park spaces in Camden, educate residents about urban forestry, and educate tree recipients on maintenance of the newly planted trees.
Hollywood, FL
The proposed program will increase canopy cover in a low-to-moderate income neighborhood, educate residents on the importance of tree cover, teach proper tree maintenance, and enhance the benefits of ongoing city and state mobility, sustainability, and tree cover projects. The project will have four components:
- The first component is Outreach and Education. Youth Environmental Alliance (YEA) and city staff will present the civic association of Hollywood Gardens West with information about benefits of street trees and gather input from the community about expectations and needs from street trees in terms of placement, aesthetics, and utility.
- The second component is utilizing the information from the workshop for the city to design a tree plan for the neighborhood.
- The third component of the program is training on tree identification, biology, and maintenance. Members of the neighborhood—including adults and students—will find out more about the species of trees in their neighborhoods, learn biological facts about trees, and get hands-on practice on the planting and maintenance of tree seedlings.
- The final component of the program is the tree planting, which will focus on the blocks leading to a planned children’s play area at the intersection of Glenn Parkway and Lincoln Street.
Miami, FL
TD Green Streets funding will be used in this project to help the City of Miami achieve several goals:
- Acquire and plant 25 native trees in the proposed area and busway.
- Add a tree canopy through Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department (PROS), creating shade along a well-used walking path.
- Host a volunteer tree planting day event at Ethel F. Beckford Richmond Elementary school, engaging students in understanding the value of trees to the environment.
- Foster a trained community enthusiastic about trees through our partners such as the Miami Dade County Parks Foundation and Citizens for a Better South Florida.
- Offer community workshops for volunteers through Citizens for a Better South Florida (a nonprofit specializing in environmental education) in advance and on the day of the tree planting event so that everyone gains the knowledge of the benefits of planting a tree.
- Create a multimedia information campaign to inform the community about the results of this project.
- Utilize volunteers through PROS to disseminate project results and generate environmental awareness.
- Work with Keep South Miami-Dade Beautiful, District 9, and the Miami-Dade County Public School District to leverage other investments in the area.
- Work with PROS to engage the community by utilizing available resources to promote this project.
- Install signs that will be donated by Florida Power and Light highlighting the planting and its benefit.
New Haven, CT
The TD Green Streets grant will support the planting of 25 trees in a public park on Cherry Ann Street as part of the Greenspace Program. In 2014, the New Haven Urban Resource Initiative (URI) began working with community volunteers to remove invasive species that covered nearly the entire 5-acre park. In 2015, the City of New Haven installed playgrounds on the site, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service installed a meadow and fishing platform. Support from TD Bank will enable URI to work with volunteers to replant the site with 25 native tree species and expand the GreenSkills program—a green job training program that trains groups of at-risk high school students and ex-offenders in tree planting—to include maintaining the citywide inventory of street trees.
Newburgh, NY
The City of Newburgh’s Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) and the Newburgh Heights Association (NHA) propose a Green Gateway along six blocks of the Liberty St. corridor. They will remove seven Norway maples that are in decline. And with 18 additional planting sites having been identified, a total of 25 street trees will be planted along the six-block corridor. The new Green Gateway will enhance the quality of life and sense of community pride in the Heights Neighborhood.
Our goal is to educate the Heights community on the benefits of trees. To do this, the NHA will hold community meetings with property owners and the CAC will offer tree workshops for the community on tree care. Bilingual printed materials will be distributed. The tree planting will be celebrated with a community party.
Watering and tree pit care is also very important, but the city has no watering equipment. To address this, a small utility vehicle capable of holding a 150-gallon tank, pump, mulch, and tools will be purchased. The utility vehicle will be an indispensable tool in their urban forestry management plan, not just for the Green Gateway but throughout the city.
Providence, RI
Community partners will collaborate to plant 80 trees at the former Gorham Silver brownfield site, which sits next to Providence’s only natural freshwater pond—Mashapaug Pond. The goals of the project are to: 1) hold three separate tree planting events at the Gorham site and along Mashapaug Pond with a total of 80 trees planted, 2) conduct five school-based workshops at Alvarez High School in both the spring and fall, 3) educate the public through one tree care workshop for the local community, and 4) organize two hands-on field trips for Alvarez students to the Scituate Reservoir in the spring for a seedling planting of 300 seedlings as well as in the fall for invasives removal. Tree planting activities will help unify community residents with the school and demonstrate the school’s commitment to positively impact its host neighborhood, as most students do not live in the area immediately adjacent to the school.
Rock Hill, SC
The Laurelwood Reforestation Project’s goal is to replant a new generation of trees that will double the current tree canopy at maturity (from 25% to 50%). Laurelwood is a historic cemetery established in 1872 as the first municipal cemetery of Rock Hill. It contains more than 11,414 marked grave sites and includes a variety of funerary art and large majestic trees, many of which have deteriorated over time. Active burial use in the cemetery is dwindling and plans are in place for Laurelwood’s secondary use as a passive park.
The project’s first priority is to conduct a thorough inventory and assessment of trees on the 20.5-acre site, with the assistance of qualified urban forestry student volunteers from Clemson University. Through this assessment, high-risk diseased, decayed, and dying trees will be identified for removal and an interactive GIS map will be developed to allow the tree inventory to be tracked and maintained by city staff as well as accessed by the general public for educational and recreational purposes.
Secondly, a new generation of trees will be purchased and planted, along with 18 additional canopy trees that will be transplanted from another city-owned property into Laurelwood. A community planting day will be organized with Clemson Extension and general public volunteers who will assist with planting trees in a specified area. Volunteers will receive educational training before the planting takes place.
Worcester, MA
“Cultivating Tree Stewards for Worcester’s Street Trees” will build on an existing relationship between the City of Worcester and the Worcester Tree Initiative, which engages volunteers who help care for Worcester’s street trees. With funds from TD Green Streets, volunteers from three partnering agencies will join the program to gain knowledge, assess and maintain trees, and share information with residents in the Main South Neighborhood. The partnering agencies are: 1) Students from the Boys and Girls Club of Worcester (elementary school age), 2) Students from Claremont Academy, a Worcester Public High School which commits itself to nurturing the academic, social, physical, and emotional development of all students, and 3) Clients of Alternatives Unlimited, which serves Central Massachusetts residents with psychiatric or developmental disabilities to learn skills and engage in activities to help them lead full and successful lives in their communities. Each agency’s participants will learn and participate in a slightly different way, but all will attend training sessions, assess and maintain street trees in the Main South neighborhood, and help plant trees.