Progress 09/01/11 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Alliance for Community Trees (ACTrees) was awarded a $150,000 grant with two objectives: Award micro-sub-grants to ACTrees network across the nation for planting trees in or near community gardens as shade or line of sight screening protection and to plant fruit and nut trees for local production and consumption; and Support the development of a new national program focused on planting fruit and nut trees in or around community gardens. These two objectives are undertaken in two arenas; in ACTrees' national office and among the thirty grant recipients. This report provides information in each arena. ACTrees undertook four training events for its network members and partners who then disseminated the information within their communities. November 8, 2011 ACTrees sponsored the first training at its Annual Meeting. Fifty ACTrees network members and friends learned about the connection between trees and urban agriculture; strategic goals, objectives, process and timeline of the project; and specific instructions on the micro-sub-grant application, implementation, and reporting requirements. December 15, 2011 ACTrees sponsored a follow-up webcast, providing this same information to seventy ACTrees network members with 92 percent stating that the webcast met or exceeded their expectations and needs. April 19, 2012, ACTrees sponsored a second webcast presentation on selecting, planting, maintaining, and harvesting fruit and nut trees in urban settings. Sixty ACTrees members participated with 87 percent stating that the webcast met or exceeded their expectations and needs. November 13, 2012 ACTrees held a panel presentation about the project at its Annual Meeting. Over 130 ACTrees members and friends attended the presentation, learning the most significant successes and challenges from three participating communities and an overview of the project results from the project manager, Julia Marano. ACTrees also developed and disseminated a grant application package that included a resource list with national and local suggestions for mentors and supporters. As part of the micro-sub-grants, the thirty grantees included an educational component to disseminate their information to their partners and individual community members. Content of these educational events varied with the goals of each project but fell into four main categories: Public community meetings to introduce the project and gather input; Public workshops on selecting, planting, and maintaining trees in general and harvesting fruit and nut trees, typically conducted in partnership with the local urban forester or professional arborist; Public workshops on harvesting and using fruit and nuts as a source of nutritional foods; and Educational programs in academic settings ranging from K-12 up through colleges and universities. These are typically developed and conducted in coordination with professors and teachers and are mostly focused on tree planting and care, growing and eating fruit and nuts, and soil science. Finally, ACTrees has written project summaries that include: Lessons Learned; Best Practices, and Case Studies. This information will be disseminated through the ACTrees website. PARTICIPANTS: Alliance for Community Trees contracted with Julia Marano as the Project Director for this grant project. Ms. Marano's responsibilities included: Develop and conduct all training events; Write and disseminate the micro-sub-grant grant application package; Receive, review and, in coordination with ACTrees staff, select grant awardees; Mentor, counsel and assist grantees with their individual projects throughout the program; Write, disseminate, receive, review and tabulate Interim and Final Micro-Sub-Grant reports; Draft concept paper on developing the new national program focused on planting fruit and nut trees in urban areas; Write Interim and Final USDA reports; Assist ACTrees staff with other tasks related to this grant as needed. ACTrees staff members Leland Milstein, Program Director; Megan Odett, Development Associate; and Sarah Anderson, Program Coordinator also worked on the project in coordination with Julia Marano to review and mutually finalize all documents, events, and reports. ACTrees also engaged two partner organizations as professional advisors and mentoring for the grantees. Bartlett Trees, Inc. was the advisor on maintaining fruit and nut trees under organic or IPM standards and Casey Trees was the mentor for grantees on selecting fruit and nut trees that were appropriate for their individual urban setting. All thirty micro-sub-grantees designated a specific project director for their grant project. Each of these individuals took on the role of organizing and developing all activities including; site and tree selection, partner engagement, event planning and facilitation, and volunteer and citizen education. As described under "outputs" all grantees have included educational components in their projects. Some of these educational programs were integrated into an official academic curriculum such as the Green Pumas of St. Joseph's College project. Some were integrated into existing youth training programs such as Common Ground of Eastern NC who partnered with "Erasing the Lines" to engage 60 teenagers in the project. Others provide volunteers with community certification as a Tree Tender or Citizen Forester such as Casey Trees project at Richardson Dwellings in Washington, DC and Tree Pittsburgh project at Larmier and Homewood Community Garden sites. Throughout this pilot year, the thirty grantees engaged over 120 partners and collaborators in the project from a broad list of categories including: state agencies, local government offices, civic groups, non-profit organizations, schools and universities, and businesses and corporations. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience of ACTrees under this grant includes the complete ACTrees Network. In response to this new grant endeavor, eight new organizations became ACTrees members, joining this nationwide Network in planting trees, specifically fruit and nut trees, in urban settings. In addition ACTrees further engaged the National Association of State Foresters and deepened its relationship with the Sustainable Urban Forest Coalition. ACTrees disseminated the micro-sub-grant applications to the entire ACTrees Network, received 48 applications, and awarded 30 grants to communities in 21 states. These thirty grantees included non-profits and academic institutions in a wide range of urban settings: Large metropolitan areas such as New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Newark, Washington DC, and Oakland; mid-sized cities such as Willimgton, DE, Pittsburgh, PA, Cincinnati, OH, Indianapolis, IN, Tulsa, OK, Lincoln, NE and Albuquerque, NM; and smaller towns such as South Lake, TX, Taylors, SC, Rensselaer, IN, Asheville, NC, Frankfort, KY, Wilkinsburg, PA and Marion, IA. Due to this wide range of micro-sub-grantees, the overall racial diversity cannot be generalized or summarized as an effective representation. However, all thirty grant projects were undertaken in neighborhoods or communities that are economically stressed or depressed; have limited access to quality nutritional foods; and have troubled educational systems. The thirty grantees included project components that involved opportunities for all citizens within the community to learn about and engage in actual hands-on tree care and harvesting. A good example is City Fruit's Beacon Hill Food Forest in Seattle where five workshops were provided to residents. The workshops included: Renovating and pruning old fruit trees; Permaculture principles; Planting fruit trees; Site irrigation; and Sheet mulching and soil preparation. Most of the projects that included planting fruit and nut trees also had an educational component on personal nutrition, local food supply, and the overall food system. ACTrees required that grantees engage local collaborators in planning, organizing, promoting and undertaking the thirty projects. There are two examples of the effectiveness of this approach. In Taylors, SC, the Sans Souci Community Garden, Gardening for Good, Greenville Organic Food Organization, Urban Farm Tour, and LiveWell Greenville jointly engaged residents and created opportunities for participation. In Kamas, UT, Uinta Headwaters brought a wide array of collaborators including Starbucks coffee company, Park City Fire District, Park City Lions Club, Snydersville Basin Special Recreation District, Park City Nursery, and Gardner Engineering. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The ACTrees micro-sub-grants provided opportunities for change in knowledge, action, and conditions within the 30 grantee communities. Public officials became more supportive of planting trees in their community, specifically the value of fruit and nut trees, as demonstrated most profoundly in Seattle's Beacon Hill Food Forest Project where city officials donated land, installed underground irrigation, and helped maintain trees during a severe drought. Community gardeners acknowledged the benefits trees bring to their projects in two major examples: Nightingale Community Gardeners in Boston who were previously averse to trees but embraced the project as adding valuable and consistent food products to their garden; and Cooper Sprouts Garden that the City of Camden and New Jersey Tree Foundation uses as a model for community gardens in the city and state. College and K-12 school students are learning and sharing information with one outstanding example being Green Pumas of St. Joseph's College that began as a student-led project and spread throughout the college and community. The learning and sharing includes academic courses and experiences for students of several disciplines and levels such as: a College course in Fundamentals of Soil Science, that teaches soil testing and the relationship between soils and fruit/nut production; and Science Methods for Elementary Teachers, a college class for pre-service teachers, exploring the orchard as a site for science learning in elementary schools and an inspiration for designing a school garden; and field trips for every elementary student at a local. Throughout this pilot year, over 2,700 volunteers donated over 10,000 hours to plant over 2,000 trees and woody shrubs in the 30 grantee communities. Planting these trees provided opportunities to apply the information learned in workshops and obtain practical knowledge and skills. The necessity for continued care and harvesting of fruit and nut trees creates opportunities for continued learning and action. An example is Pennsylvania Horticultural Society project at W.B Saul High School where fruit and nuts are used in nutrition education for students; in the school cafeteria; as a fruit and nut share in a CSA run by the school and Weavers Way Farm; and as donations to food pantries. A summary chart of the micro-sub-grants is available upon request. One important "lesson learned" from this pilot year is that inherited knowledge among the general population about tree care in general and specifically the harvesting and use of fruits and nuts has been disappearing over the past 2-3 generations. ACTrees will develop an action plan to address this situation as part of the new national program. One final outcome of this grant is that ACTrees has successfully created a new national fruit and nut tree program. Named "Community Groves," this program will shortly make its 2013 debut as the first-ever national urban forestry program promoting the planting and care of fruit and nut trees.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Alliance for Community Trees (ACTrees) was awarded this $150,000 grant with two objectives: first, award micro-sub-grants to ACTrees network across the nation for planting trees in or near community gardens as shade or line of sight screening protection and to plant fruit and nut trees for local production and consumption; second, support the development of a new national program focused on planting trees including fruit and nut trees in urban areas. These two objectives are undertaken in two arenas: ACTrees' national office in College Park, MD and nationally among the thirty grant recipients. This report summarizes the outputs and outcomes for each arena. ACTrees undertook three major training events for its network members and partners who then disseminated the information within their communities. On November 8, 2011 ACTrees sponsored the first training about this new endeavor at its Annual Meeting. Representatives of 50 ACTrees network members attended this training to learn about: connections between trees and urban agriculture; strategic goals, objectives, process and timeline of the project; and specific instructions on the micro-sub-grant application, implementation, and reporting requirements. On December 15, 2011, ACTrees produced a follow-up webcast to provide this same information to an additional 70 ACTrees network members. Of the total number of webcast participants, 92% reported that the webcast content met or exceeded their expectations and needs. On April 19, 2012, ACTrees sponsored a second webcast presentation on selecting, planting, maintaining, and harvesting fruit and nut trees in urban settings. Sixty ACTrees network members participated in the webcast with 87 percent stating that the content met or exceeded their expectations and needs. ACTrees also developed and distributed a grant application package that included a resource list with national and local suggestions for mentors and supporters. As part of the micro-sub-grant requirements, the thirty grantees were all required to include an educational component to disseminate the information and knowledge gained through the project. Grant recipients have conducted or will conduct training events for their program partners and individual community members. The content of the events varied with the goals and objectives of each project but fell into four main categories: first were public community meetings to introduce the project and gather input; second were public workshops on selecting, planting, and maintaining trees in general and harvesting fruit and nut trees, typically conducted in partnership with the local urban forester or professional arborist; third were public workshops on harvesting and using fruit and nuts as a source of nutritional foods, typically conducted in partnership with professional nutritionists; and fourth were educational programs in academic settings ranging from colleges through primary schools. These programs were typically developed and conducted in coordination with professors and teachers and mostly focused on tree planting and care and/or growing and eating fruits and nuts. PARTICIPANTS: Alliance for Community Trees contracted with Julia Marano as the Program Director for this grant project. Ms. Marano's responsibilities included: developing and conducting all training events; writing and disseminating the micro-sub-grant application package; receiving, reviewing and, in coordination with ACTrees staff, selecting grant awardees; mentoring, counseling and assisting grantees with their individual projects throughout the program; writing, disseminating, receiving, reviewing and tabulating Interim and Final Micro-Sub-Grant reports; drafting concept paper on developing the new national program focused on planting fruit and nut trees in urban areas; writing interim and final USDA reports; assisting ACTrees staff with other tasks related to this grant as needed. ACTrees staff members Leland Milstein, Program Director; Megan Odett, Development Associate; and Sarah Anderson, Program Coordinator also worked on the project in coordination with Julia Marano to review and finalize all documents, events, and reports. ACTrees also engaged two partner organizations as professional counsel and mentoring for the grantees. Bartlett Tree Experts counseled participants on maintaining fruit and nut trees under organic or Integrated Pest Management standards and Casey Trees in Washington, DC advised grantees on selecting fruit and nut trees appropriate for their individual urban settings. All thirty micro-sub-grantees designated a specific project director for their grant project. Each of these individuals took on the role of organizing and developing all activities including: site and tree selection, partner engagement, event planning and facilitation, and volunteer and citizen education. As described under "outputs" all grantees have conducted or will conduct an educational component of their project. Some of these educational programs were integrated into an official academic curriculum, some were designated as continuing education credits, and a few of these workshops provide volunteers with community certification as a Tree Tender or Citizen Forester. TARGET AUDIENCES: Alliance for Community Trees is a national non-profit with a network of members and program partners across the United States. The combined target audience for the two objectives under this grant includes this complete nationwide community. In response to this new grant endeavor, eight organizations became new ACTrees members, joining this nationwide network in planting trees, specifically fruit and nut trees, in urban settings. In addition ACTrees further engaged the National Association of State Foresters and deepened its relationship with the Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition. ACTrees distributed the micro-sub-grant applications to the entire ACTrees network, received forty-eight applications, and awarded thirty grants to communities in twenty-one states, geographically dispersed across the nation. These thirty grantees include non-profits and academic institutions in a wide range of urban settings that included: large metropolitan areas such as New York City, NY; Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; Philadelphia, PA; and Washington DC; mid-sized cities such as Oakland, CA; Newark, NJ; Wilmington, DE; Pittsburgh, PA; Cincinnati, OH; Indianapolis, IN; Tulsa, OK; Lincoln, NE and Albuquerque, NM; and smaller towns such as South Lake, TX; Taylors, SC; Rensselaer, IN; Asheville, NC; Frankfort, KY; Wilkinsburg, PA and Marion, IA. Due to this wide range of communities who received the micro-sub-grants, the racial diversity cannot be generalized or summarized as an effective representation. However, each of these thirty grant projects was undertaken in neighborhoods or communities that are economically stressed or depressed; have limited access to quality nutritional foods; and have troubled educational systems. As described under "outputs," all grantees have included or will include an educational component with their project. These educational components involved opportunities for all citizens within the community to learn about and engage in actual hands-on planting and caring for trees, harvesting and preparing fruit and nuts for consumption. Most of the projects that included planting fruit and nut trees also had an educational component about personal nutrition, local food supply, and/or the overall food system. Another micro-sub-grant requirement was that each of the grantees engage project partners to assist in planning, organizing, promoting and undertaking the endeavor. An outstanding example of the effectiveness of this partnership approach is in the city of Taylors, SC, where the Sans Souci Community Garden forged new partnerships with Gardening for Good, Greenville Organic Food Organization, Urban Farm Tour, and LiveWell Greenville to inform residents about the project and create more opportunities for participation. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
This ACTrees micro-sub-grant program provided opportunities for change in knowledge, action, and conditions within the thirty grantee communities. Public officials became more aware and supportive of planting trees in their communities, specifically the multi-layered value of fruit and nut trees. A quote from Camden, NJ: "We are so proud of our trees! Not only will they provide us with fruit, shade and beauty for years to come, but they will inspire others. This People's Garden is a model for other communities." Community gardeners acknowledged the benefits trees brought to their projects. For example, Nightingale Community Gardeners in Boston were previously averse to trees but embraced this project as both a valuable and consistent source of food products, and an improvement to the garden's line of site protection. College and high school students learned and shared information with other members of their communities. Examples include a horticultural student at Lenoir Community College in Kinston, NC who trained high school students in planting orchards, and pre-service teachers at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, IN who used the orchard in a health and science curriculum for local elementary school students. To date, 1,100 residents in all 30 communities have donated over 4,000 hours to plant 800 trees. Planting these trees provided myriad opportunities to use the information learned in workshops and to obtain practical knowledge and skills. The very nature of trees, requiring continued care and harvesting for fruit and nut trees, creates on-going conditions for continued learning and action, and opportunities to make more positive life choices. A clear example of this outcome is from Frankfort, KY where after planting trees students stated - "This is fun I want to be a farmer when I grow up." and - "Can I come back and plant more trees with my family" Numerous projects contain on-going programs to harvest and utilize fruit and nuts. One example is Saul High School in Philadelphia, PA where fruit and nuts will be used in nutrition education for students, served in the school cafeteria, used to establish a fruit and nut share in a CSA run by the school and partner organization Weavers Way Farm, and donated to local food pantries. The final totals of volunteers, hours, and trees will be submitted in the final report. A summary chart of all thirty micro-sub-grants is available upon request. ACTrees will use these outcomes and results to inform, guide and direct the development of the national program. The project has so far demonstrated a clear lack of knowledge about planting, growing and maintaining trees in general and specifically the harvesting and use of the fruit and nuts. ACTrees has preliminarily determined that often a two or three generation gap exists in the basic understanding of trees, even longer regarding fruit and nut trees. Simply put, our grandparents' and great grandparents' knowledge and skills were not passed on to following generations as it had been for hundreds of years. ACTrees will develop an action plan for the national program to change this condition after the final reports from the grantees are received.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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