Arbor Day Foundation Highlights Environmental Justice Projects in Action

The planting project in South Carolina engaged volunteers in creating neighborhood canopy

The Arbor Day Foundation unveiled a new video showcasing the impact of a recent environmental justice planting project in Upstate South Carolina.

The local organization behind the project, TreesUpstate, was one of eight tree planting organizations around the United States awarded a grant from the Arbor Day Foundation in 2021. Recipients were asked to use the funding to facilitate tree-planting projects that would help address race-related inequities and correct environmental injustices.

The video helps depict how the grant project helped bring the finishing touches — neighborhood trees — to a successful low-to-moderate income housing redevelopment project on the site of a then-defunct 14-acre trailer park.

Organizations received $100,000 over a two-year period. With those dollars from the environmental justice grant, TreesUpstate reached out to households in Creekside to understand their questions and concerns about trees, while also providing residents with young trees to grow in their yards.

Click here and watch the full video to hear directly from residents about the impact of the project.

About the Arbor Day Foundation

Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation is the world’s largest membership nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees. With a focus in communities and forests of greatest need, the Foundation — alongside its more than 1 million members, supporters and valued partners — has helped to plant nearly 500 million trees in more than 50 countries. Guided by its mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees, the Arbor Day Foundation is committed to unlocking the power of trees to help solve critical issues facing people and the planet. Learn more about the impact of the Arbor Day Foundation at arborday.org.

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