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Our Teen Urban Tree Corps Summer Program is almost here
SFTT staff Natalie Merline, Eva Paradiso, and Joshua Reed getting ready for TUTC by going on a watering run.

In less than three weeks, 20 Boston youth will join us at Speak for the Trees for our 4th summer Teen Urban Tree Corps program. These teens will spend 6 weeks learning about trees, urban forestry, and career paths in green jobs. They will get the opportunity to explore green spaces across Boston, including trips to the Harbor Islands, Post Office Square Park, the Arnold Arboretum, Franklin Park, and more. Most excitingly, youth will pilot our Dorchester street tree watering program where they walk the streets of Dorchester and water young trees to help increase street tree survival.

Last week we boarded our Program Coordinator, Joshua Reed and next week our 3 team leaders will be joining us. We can't wait for the summer to begin!

Learn more about TUTC
 
Meet our Summer TUTC staff
Welcome Joshua Reed

We are excited to introduce Joshua Reed as our Program Coordinator for Teen Urban Tree Corps. He believes strongly in educating youth on environmental justice and sustainable development. He is currently finishing his MA in Applied Politics at Suffolk University.

Welcome An Pham

Help us welcome back An Pham as they return as a Team Leader for our TUTC program. They were part of the first Teen Urban Tree Corps in 2019 and continued their work with Speak for the Trees Boston as a TUTC intern in 2020. They are eager to return as a TUTC Team Leader this summer.

Support our program to help us grow trees and teen leaders for Boston's future

What stories do our trees tell?
We've been awarded a $75,000 grant from the EPA to learn and lead walks in 3 Environmental Justice neighborhoods

We were recently awarded a $75,000 Environmental Justice grant from the EPA to work with three local community groups to learn about local trees and educate residents about the importance of their trees. The grant, "Community Tree Stories: Exploring Healthy Environments in Three Boston EJ Neighborhoods", will support partnerships with three community groups: Edgewater Neighborhood Association in Mattapan, Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation in Dorchester, and Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH) in East Boston. Through a series of meetings and surveys, we aim to learn about residents' relationships to trees and, through walks and videos, capture residents' personal stories about trees in their lives. In the coming months we will be sharing opportunities for friends, neighbors, and residents to join us on resident-led walks in these 3 communities.

As part of the grant we are partnering with three amazing organizations who will support this project: Everyday Boston, American Forests, BU URBAN, and EmVision. They will provide expertise on issues related to story telling and the importance of urban trees. They will assist us in capturing stories, informing a Tree Equity Score tool, and sharing scientific data about Boston's tree canopy.


We have trees looking for homes
  • Have a nearby park that could use some trees?
  • Is your street bare and hot in the summer?
  • Is your school or local business looking empty?

We're here to support community projects that will bring trees to you and your neighborhood. Please fill out our brief tree planting proposal form and we'll reach out.

Submit your tree planting proposal
Donate Today
Join us in growing Boston's urban forest

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