Job Announcement:
Team Leader, Teen Urban Tree Corps

Pictures of youth in bright yellow safety vests eating popsicles.

Have a passion for the environment? Want to make a difference in your community? Apply to be a team leader!

We’re hiring young adults to work closely with Boston teens to learn about, care for, and advocate for trees in Boston.

Details

Date: mid-June to mid-August, 2024 (exact dates TBD)

Hours per week: ~ 30 hours/week 

Salary: ~ $20 per hour 

Application: Submit a cover letter and resume in PDF format, along with 3 professional references to [email protected] and [email protected]. Please include your full name and “TUTC Team Leader” in the subject line. Application will remain open until position is filled. 

Information about Speak for the Trees

Founded in 2018, Speak for the Trees (SFTT) is an urban and community forestry nonprofit in Boston focused on improving the size, health, and equity of Boston’s urban tree canopy. The organization works closely with community groups and residents to transform the urban landscape, its environment, and the relationships between trees and people as a tool to improve racial, environmental, economic, and social equity in the city.

The Teen Urban Tree Corps (TUTC) is a youth summer employment program for approximately 20 Boston teens (ages 15-18). Through this program, teens learn about the importance of trees in their communities, engage in hands-on learning activities, and receive invaluable skills and connections in the world of urban forestry. Through workshops and field trips, teens receive basic job training in issues related to urban forestry and arboriculture, such as assessing tree health, identifying species, considering site characteristics, logging data, assisting with outreach campaigns, and using technology.

Team Leader Responsibilities

Working under the direction of the SFTT’s education staff, the TUTC Team Leader will supervise TUTC youth participants. For approximately 25 hours per week, the Team Leader will work with and oversee a group of 4-5 teens. Approximately 3 days each week will be spent conducting field work that includes watering, mulching, and weeding of street trees. They will co-lead lessons indoors to the entire group, as well as chaperone the group on field trips and outings. An additional 5-10 hours per week will be spent assisting the Program Coordinator with planning curriculum and preparing material. The Team Leader will be required to complete 2 weeks of training in late June in advance of the beginning of the program.

Date: mid-June to mid-August, 2024 (exact dates TBD)

Hours per week: ~ 30 hours/week 

Salary: ~ $20 per hour 

Essential Functions: 

  • Supervise a group of 4-5 TUTC youth in the field 5 hours per day, Monday through Friday
  • Attend 2 weeks of onboarding in June
  • Assist with orientation of youth participants
  • Assist in leading daily youth meetings
  • Assist in leading teens on field trips
  • Mobilize, monitor, and track TUTC team progress
  • Participate in weekly staff meetings
  • Assist in developing educational activities, workshops, and networking events as needed
  • Collaborate with SFTT staff with program evaluation

Requirements: 

  • Experience working with diverse communities 
  • Experience working with or leading groups of high school youth 
  • Ability to work and solve problems independently 
  • Willingness to engage with residents and neighborhood representatives
  • Commitment to issues of public health, environmental justice, and racial equity 
  • Ability to walk 2-3 miles per day
  • Ability to lift 50 lbs

Helpful Skills/Experience: 

  • Fluency in a language(s) spoken by local immigrant groups is preferred. These include Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, among other languages common in Boston
  • Background or interest in environmental or sustainability issues and education 
  • Experience in tree care, arboriculture, or landscaping would be an asset

Please Note: In order to be eligible for a program that involves potential unsupervised contact with children, applicants will be required to undergo a Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check and a Sex Offender Registry Information (SORI) check.

How to Apply

Submit a cover letter and resume in PDF format, along with 3 professional references to [email protected] and [email protected]. Please include your full name and “TUTC Team Leader” in the subject line.

Application will remain open until position is filled.


Speak for the Trees is rooted in the values of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion and is committed to building a team that represents diverse backgrounds, perspectives, & skills.

Individuals from underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.

An Act Establishing the Municipal Reforestation Program

Introduced by Senator Cynthia Creem (S.452) & Representatives Steven Owens & Jennifer Armini (H.869)

Urban forests can mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, including increased rainfall, excessive heat, and air pollution. This bill requires that each participating municipality in the Commonwealth has a municipal reforestation plan that the Commonwealth will finance and support with technical assistance. It also has built-in flexibility so that each community can develop a plan that meets its individual needs.

Why we need this bill:

  • The Commonwealth’s urban tree canopy cover on public and private land is decreasing.
  • Urban trees have been dying for many reasons – gas leaks, air pollution, road salt, drought, soil compaction, and development.
  • Communities with the sparsest tree canopy cover are often low-income communities.
  • Residents from low-income urban communities are disproportionately affected by excessive heat and poor air quality.
  • Healthy tree canopies foster healthy communities, as shown by the successful Greening the Gateway Cities program.

Trees provide valuable ecosystem services that:

  • Create shade in the summer, mitigating the heat island effect by lowering temperatures by ten degrees on average, and reducing air conditioning costs.
  • Filter the air, removing particulate pollutants that cause respiratory diseases.
  • Sequester carbon dioxide above and below ground.
  • Reduce stormwater runoff, avoiding flooding and reducing water pollution.
  • Reduce soil erosion and remediate soil.
  • Provide habitat for urban wildlife, including birds, insects, and pollinators.
  • Calm traffic, creating more livable streets.
  • Are associated with lower crime rates.
  • Boost property values.
  • Improve physical and mental health outcomes of the humans who live near them.

Key Components of the Municipal Reforestation Program

Establishes an Urban Forest Advisory Council under the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) that:

  • Includes members with expertise in urban forestry, arboriculture, landscape architecture, ecology, workforce development, green infrastructure, demand-side energy efficiency management, and climate change resilience and mitigation.
  • Provides advice and technical assistance to municipalities, tree-planting organizations, municipal arborists, state foresters, gas and electric companies.

Requires each participating municipality to develop a reforestation plan that includes:

  • Inventory of the existing tree canopy cover using scientific best practices.
  • Location of optimal sites for planting trees to achieve the goals of the program.
  • Analysis of current condition of the tree canopy cover in project sites.
  • Lists the benefits of preserving and expanding the tree canopy cover for climate mitigation such as energy consumption, heat island effect, and stormwater reduction.
  • Plans for long-term maintenance, preservation, and follow-up care.
  • Plans for community engagement in planting and maintaining trees, including workforce development programs.
  • Other provisions developed by the Urban Forest Advisory Council.

Requires each participating municipality to prioritize projects in the following order:

  • First priority to sites with less than 20 percent tree canopy cover, neighborhoods with high levels of particulate pollutants that affect human health, environmental justice neighborhoods and sites that are deemed to be heat islands.
  • Second priority to sites with less than 40 percent tree canopy cover.
  • Third priority to sites with less than 60 percent canopy cover.

Provides funding from the following sources:

  • Funding for the Program from appropriations, bond proceeds, or other funds authorized by the Legislature, as well as funds from public and private sources, including gifts, grants, and donations.
  • Funds to be distributed to participating municipalities 3 years after the enactment of the bill.
  • Funds based on a formula developed by the Urban Forest Advisory Council in consultation with Secretaries of EEA, DOT, and A & F that includes road mileage, population, number of employed individuals, number of environmental justice criteria, and percent of tree canopy cover of 20 percent or less, with a weighted calculation for this factor.

Read and download a full fact sheet.

Teen Urban Tree Corps Summer 2024 Program

Interested in environmental justice, trees, and community?

Join our Teen Urban Tree Corps program

Are you a Boston teen interested in learning how to improve Boston’s environment? Join our Teen Urban Tree Corps this summer to care for Boston’s trees, learn about careers in forestry, go on field trips to some of Boston’s best green spaces, and more!

Details

For Team Leaders:

Speak for the Trees is actively recruiting for Team Leaders. Working under the direction of the SFTT’s education staff, the TUTC Team Leader will supervise TUTC youth participants. For approximately 25 hours per week, the Team Leader will work with and oversee a group of 4-5 teens. Approximately 3 days each week will be spent conducting field work that includes watering, mulching, and weeding of street trees. They will co-lead lessons indoors to the entire group, as well as chaperone the group on field trips and outings. An additional 5-10 hours per week will be spent assisting the Program Coordinator with planning curriculum and preparing material. The Team Leader will be required to complete 2 weeks of training in late June in advance of the beginning of the program.

Date: mid-June to mid-August, 2024 (exact dates TBD)

Hours per week: ~ 30 hours/week

Salary: ~ $20 per hour

For Teens:

  • Late June, 2024 to Mid August, 2024 (exact dates TBD), 7 weeks total
  • 25 hours/week
  • $15/hour
  • Outdoor work includes tree care (watering and mulching)
  • Field trips to the Harvard Forest, Arnold Arboretum, Spectacle Island, and more
  • Activities include tree identification, tree climbing, and invasive species removal

Please note, this position is only open to Boston residents between the ages of 14-18. Apply below.

Board Member Description

Our Mission

Our mission is to increase the size, health, and equity of the urban tree canopy in Boston through engagement, outreach, education, and advocacy. We partner with government agencies, community organizations, corporations, and residents to plant trees, increase community engagement, improve tree policies, and raise awareness about the importance of trees, especially in environmental justice neighborhoods with low tree coverage. Our aim is to support the city’s efforts, as mapped out in its Urban Forest Plan, to improve the city’s urban forest in the face of climate change.

We are rooted in four core values:

  1. Urban resilience is critical in this era of global climate change.
  2. All Boston residents deserve a clean and healthy urban environment.
  3. Green communities are the backbone of safe spaces, social cohesion, and livable neighborhoods.
  4. All residents play an important role in solving local and global environmental challenges and we celebrate the inclusion of a diversity of stakeholders from all of Boston’s neighborhoods.

Board Expectations 

  • Leverage connections, networks, and partnerships to help SFTT achieve its mission.
  • Identify, secure, and oversee additional financial support.
  • Serve as an ambassador and representative of SFTT to promote the organization’s mission.
  • Have a passion for issues of urban environmental resilience, justice, and public health. 
  • Recruit new board members who have skills and backgrounds that serve the organization’s needs.
  • Help locate and engage like-minded individuals, organizations, and academic institutions. 
  • Complete a three (3) year term (with a maximum of 2 terms per member).

Board Duties

  • Provide assistance by participating in at least one committee
  • Provide expertise and assistance on ad-hoc committees and in projects, as needed. 
  • Participate in 90-minute quarterly meetings (virtual until public health guidelines allow in person.)
  • Participate in inter-quarterly 45 minute conference calls.
  • Contribute financially at a level of personal significance.
  • In conjunction with the board, assist in raising 10% of annual budget (~$100,000 of $1 million dollar annual budget).

Desired Qualifications

We seek board candidates who embody the following characteristics and skills:

  • Passion and influence to help SFTT add scale to its programs and reach.
  • Experience in strategy development, accounting, financial management, grant-writing, marketing/branding, long-term budget planning, fundraising, and event coordination.
  • Experience in climate justice and environmental activism.
  • Knowledge and expertise in forestry and/or arboriculture.
  • Strong professional and personal networks at the community level.
  • Previous experience as a board member of a non-profit, but all candidates will be considered.

Interested candidates should send an email with a recent resume to [email protected].

A Tree’s Story

Speak for the Trees partnered with Emerson College in a course called “Transforming Narratives for Environmental Justice.” Their final project was this short film that tells the story of a tree and its relationship to the humans who visit it.

Vivian’s Green Vision

Vivian considers the differences between her Mattapan neighborhood and her native home country of Guatemala. She explains how everything in Guatemala is green and how there is a collective care for trees. She hopes for more plants and trees in the City of Boston, for her own grandchildren and for future generations. Vivian calls for community engagement because “trees don’t have a voice, but we do.”

Leilanie and her neighborhood trees

Leilanie reflects on the importance of trees, from their benefits to humans and wildlife, to her overall well-being. She describes her hopes for a greener environment in the future as trees filter and clean our air. Leilanie loves to go to the park with her dogs and she hopes that future generations get to enjoy the same experience.

Share your tree story

Teen Urban Tree Corps School Year Program, 2023-24

During the 2023-24 school year, Speak for the Trees, Boston will continue to provide career exploration and work opportunities for Boston youth ages 14-18. The program runs  from mid-September to mid-June (exact dates TBD), Mondays-Thursday from 4pm to 6pm at our offices in Fields Corner, Dorchester. Teens are required to attend at least twice per week.

From September through October, participants will:

  • Provide care such as tree watering and mulching for street trees, an extension of the work done by the summer TUTC cohort

From November through June, the program will transition to a focus on career exploration and community engagement. This will include:

  • Participating in outreach activities for SFTT program.
  • Developing social media content and educational outreach materials.
  • Planning, organizing, and hosting our 2nd annual Teen Tree Summit.

Tara and her love of trees

Tara has written and recorded in her own words what trees mean to her

“There is nothing like the scent of pine and earth that can bring me home. In a year of harsh realities and uncertainty, the one thing that kept me grounded was the company of several enormous spruce pines attached at the roots and at least five stories high. I believe they are of the common spruce family, perhaps white or red spruce, found in New England and the earth’s northern regions.

It is hard to say if there is one tree or two. Like conjoined twins, this entanglement of spruce sits at a far corner on the historic Eustis Estate in Milton, Massachusetts, along the edge of the Blue Hills reservation. “I’m off to the vortex!” I’d tell my daughters, who were reluctantly sheltering in place, having been evicted from college life. We all needed to find some space. So dwelling under the languishing branches of pine with their bright pink nubs in spring became part of my regular self-care routine. Sitting on one large trunk would bring me back to the forts of my childhood, the kind that didn’t require any special props, just a quilt to lay on and a good book to read. I assure you that when you step into this coniferous tent, you can feel the energy of Mother Earth like a warm embrace.

I made it my goal to visit the spruce family and memorize a poem by Mary Oliver, called Trees, that I found in a slim volume of her work. This was an exercise I hadn’t done since memorizing a Shakespeare sonnet in high school. Like then, it took some effort (even more now) but I was pleased in the end. I know it by heart (listen here).

Heaven knows how many
trees I climbed when my body

was still in the climbing way, how
many afternoons, especially
windy ones, I sat
perched on a limb that
rose and fell with every invisible
blow. Each tree was
a green ship in the wind-waves, every
branch a mast, every leafy height
a happiness that came without
even trying. I was that alive
and limber. Now I walk under them —
cool, beloved: the household
of such tall, kind sisters.

~ Mary Oliver

With the brain fog that accumulated over the months of the pandemic, the grief of witnessing a relative in an alcoholic free fall, and the impending move from our home of 20 years just down the street, this brief recitation became a kind of ritual. A momentary prayer. If anything, I felt the cleanse of a forest bath and tree molecules seep into the tributaries of my neurotransmitters. As a therapist, I know that being in nature is sustenance for the soul and fuel for the brain. Not just for me, but for humanity, too. The science is unequivocal on that count, but that doesn’t seem to matter to some.

Trees are generous with their love. It’s hard to measure the girth of these sturdy gals. With their wide trunks, 7 and 10 feet around, this spruce grove is indeed like a pair of best friends bolstering me after a heartbreak. Sometimes I’d rest my forehead on one branch too large to wrap my arms around and weep with grief or gratitude depending on the day. I miss them now.

Recently, I visited my spruce sisters. On the lawn nearby was a group of teenage girls having a picnic, laughing and chatting before the inevitable start of another uncertain school year. No peace today, I mused. As I wandered along the edge of the rhododendrons, the girls bolted into my pine vortex and began to sing. It was both strange and nostalgic. Not a common site in the modern world of emerging young adults. Perhaps that’s the power of these tall fine ladies. It was as if they were showing me exactly what I needed to see.

See also Radio Boston, Sept 8, 2021: Pining For The Forest: The Health And Climate Benefits Of Trees, at about minute 10:30 one sentence of this piece is aired!”