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Check out what's in this issue!
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1) Spring Reflections:
- Letter to Our Community
- Urban Forestry Update
- Training the Next Generation
- News from the Richmond Greenway
2) 2017 Summer Adventures:
- This Year's Summer Adventures
- Mayor's Community Fund
- PGM-ONE Summit
3) In the Year Ahead:
- Save the Date this #GivingTuesday!
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Dear Partners,
As we put the wet weather behind us and look forward to another summer, we reflect on all that we've accomplished together the past year.
Proudly we look back to find that our commitment to environmental justice and achieving equity in our community is being accomplished through programs to expand the urban forest by planting trees, serve residents, & serve youth.
Key milestones include:
- Hundreds of new trees in Richmond's most under-served neighborhoods - 236 new trees planted by Groundwork last year!
- New work experience opportunities for young adults.
- New developments on the Eastern Richmond Greenway.
& meaningful community events like:
In the year ahead we will continue our efforts to inspire the next generation of environmental stewards, while transforming the Eastern Greenway and growing the urban forest. With your support we can lay the groundwork for a Richmond that is safer, healthier, & more beautiful for all.
Please read on to learn more about our collective accomplishments and BE A PART OF helping us realize a fairer, greener and cleaner Richmond.
In Partnership,
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Morgan Valdivieso,
Communications Coordinator
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1) Spring Reflections:
- Urban Forestry Update
- Training the Next Generation
- News from the Richmond Greenway
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After decades of neglect, Richmond's vital green infrastructure is making a comeback!
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Growing Equity
As Richmond's Urban Forestry Administrator, we work in partnership with the city's Parks & Landscaping Department, The Watershed Project, and community volunteers to plant trees throughout Richmond. These trees improve our city's ability to absorb carbon gas pollution, cool & quiet the streets, and beautify our community, all while filtering out dangerous air particulate matter created by freeways.
We deploy our Green Team & Tree Crew to the most disadvantaged communities according to Senate Bill 535, to make sure that we're delivering these vital benefits to those that need it most.
Our work is made possible by California's Global Warming Solutions Act: AB 32 & CalFIRE's Urban and Community Forestry grant program here in Richmond, which collects fees from major polluters and uses them to respond to climate change.
Thanks to supporters, we have developed programs for climate change response with the City of Richmond that can be done in cities across the nation. They are guided by a commitment to equity for all and public health benefits for affected residents.
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Richmond's 13 tree zones: w
hat tree is right for your zone?
See the city's Urban Greening Master Plan here!
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Groundwork Staff and our Tree Crew at the Unity Park Groundbreaking.
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Training the Next Generation
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Former Green Team Member & Project Coordinator, Javier Ochoa-Reyes, returns to his hometown to lend a hand while on a break from his civil engineering studies at SJSU.
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The Green Team is made possible through generous support from the NPS.
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Each school year our Green Team leads by example. Through hands-on training, our youth learn about leadership, workplace safety, science & environmental justice.
This spring our focuses were:
- Building crew leadership skills & volunteerism at all community events
- Piloting our urban forestry lesson plan
- Exploring strategies to deliver nationwide environmental justice education
- Presenting @ BAAQMD, Spare the Air's Youth for the Environment & Sustainability Conference.
Learn about how to join the Green Team here!
Announcing our Tree Crew!
To keep up with the community Adopt-A-Tree program demands and to fulfill our pledge to provide opportunities for area residents, we launched a new
Tree Crew, hiring transitional aged youth
(ages 18-25) for a rigorous work experience program.
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Trees don't care if it's the weekend, so our Tree Crew fills in for tree-care gaps across Richmond.
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News from the Richmond Greenway
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Groundwork has focused our commitment on the restoration of the Eastern Richmond Greenway Trail. However, as a leading partner in the Friends of the Richmond Greenway, The Richmond Wellness Trail and the Unity Park Project, Groundwork is making an impact along the entire Greenway by creating healthy transportation options for Richmond's most under-served communities.
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After years of working with the City of Richmond, Pogo Park, The Watershed Project and the Restoration Design Group, we finally have designs & a plan of action for our new park, Carlson Meadow.
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2) 2017 Summer Adventures, On the Horizon:
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Summer 2016
Wet Run Safety Check in Marina Bay with NPS Urban Fellow, Kieron Slaughter.
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- This Year's Summer Adventures
- Mayor's Community Fund
- PGM-ONE Summit
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This Year's Summer Adventures
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We celebrate our year of service with our Summer Adventures Program.
C
onsisting of two-tracks of outdoor programming, Next Generation Stewards and Nature Nextdoor, our Summer Adventures Program is designed to address the career awareness and outdoor recreation gap that excludes communities of color and lies at the root of the lack of diversity in the outdoors.
Alternatively, Nature Nextdoor provides Richmond youth with access to outdoor recreation opportunities right here in the Bay Area. Activities include:
If you are interested in participating in an all expenses paid community outing at Muir Woods National Monument, fill out an interest form here!
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Green Team leaders Nia Alexander & Jose Zamora explorie the South Rim at Grand Canyon National Park with Groundwork Richmond Staff, Sherman Dean (center), as part of Groundwork USA Youth Programs.
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Richmond Mayor's Community Fund
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The SF Bay Water Trail is a program of the Association of Bay Area Governments.
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3) In the Year Ahead:
- Save the Date this #GivingTuesday
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Save the Date this #GivingTuesday!
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Support this work with #GivingTuesday
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This November we're participating in our 2nd Annual #GivingTuesday campaign. We are organizing with community members like YOU to support:
- Youth education
- Employment of local youth
- Outdoor immersion and training opportunities (like the Summer Adventures listed above)
- Trees for the community & the supplies needed to support their young lives
- Funding for locally based programs
#GivingTuesday offers the unique opportunity to earn matching donations from sponsors for donations from supporters like you. meaning you can double your contribution! If you believe in helping our children grow into a generation that will make a positive difference in the world, or in bettering the health of our community through the power of trees, please visit our support page on November 21st-28th,
when the campaign goes online. Give what you can and we'll make sure it goes toward something
that matters!
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Check back in with us this November for #GivingTuesday,
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