Shutdown ends. Summer program resumes.

Three critical things happened this week: a state budget was approved, the government shutdown ended, and we were notified of funding awards for our summer Youth Conservation Corps program. As a result, we have been able to resume most of the summer programming that had been suspended or delayed during the government budget crisis.

We are pleased to have the majority of our youth participants back to work. However we are disappointed by the negative effects of the state budget impasse on the youth we serve. For the hundreds of young people whose jobs were temporarily suspended or cancelled entirely, they lost wages, the opportunity to have a work and character-building experience, and a chance to engage in something positive in their own communities.

We invite you to stop by the remaining work sites at Twin Cities parks and tell our summer crews what their hard work means to your community. For a list of current locations, please contact Tracie at 952.767.3881 or tracieh@treetrust.org.

Minnesota Helps – Tornado Recovery Fund grant awarded

The Minneapolis Foundation and Greater Twin Cities United Way announced yesterday that Tree Trust was awarded one of 13 grants given to organizations that are assisting North Minneapolis residents affected by the May 22 tornado.

The $24,152 grant will allow Tree Trust to provide full-time employment for the rest of the summer for six recent graduates of its YouthBuild program. Without this grant their participation in the program would have ended on June 30.

“Organizations serving youth were among our funding priorities,” said Frank Forsberg, senior vice president of Community Impact, Greater Twin Cities United Way.

The six YouthBuild participants are residents of North Minneapolis, and will spend the summer repairing and rehabbing up to 33 homes and rental units in North Minneapolis neighborhoods. While they earn wages and sharpen their skills, they’ll provide ownership and rental opportunities for families who have been displaced from their homes or apartments from the tornado.

The 13 grants announced June 23 are the first to be awarded through an ongoing process by which nonprofits and public agencies providing services to North Minneapolis residents affected by the tornado are invited to request support from the Fund. Grant funds were raised through the Minnesota Helps – North Minneapolis Recovery Fund, established by The Minneapolis Foundation, Greater Twin Cities United Way, and GiveMN.org. More than $1.3 million has been raised so far from community donations and matching grants.

For more information about Tree Trust’s involvement in the North Minneapolis recovery efforts, please contact Tracie at 952.767.3881 or tracieh@treetrust.org.

State budget crisis delays summer program

On June 20, more than 450 youth started their summer jobs with Tree Trust’s Youth Conservation Corps program. However, the lack of an approved state budget and subsequent funding for this program caused the suspension of 270 jobs and the delay of 135 additional youth jobs that were scheduled to start within the next two weeks.

Those affected reside in suburban Hennepin and Dakota Counties.

At this time Tree Trust cannot predict when these youth will begin or resume work, since positions are dependent upon the state’s budget. Funding from state and federal government accounts for more than 85 percent of what is needed to operate the Youth Conservation Corps program.

Tree Trust is hopeful the state budget will be resolved soon, and that the program will run at the level intended for the 2011 summer. Tree Trust is committed to the youth and communities served by this program, and is communicating with key partners, funders and officials to stay abreast of the situation.

Affected youth and their parents have been notified, and will be contacted about their participation in the program as soon as the state’s budget crisis is resolved and Tree Trust receives word of funding for this program.

Please contact Felecia at 952.767.3884 or Paula at 952.767.3883 with questions.

Tree Trust’s YouthBuild awarded three-year grant from Department of Labor

The U.S. Department of Labor announced an award of $772,869 to Tree Trust to continue its YouthBuild program through 2014. Tree Trust is one of only 76 agencies funded nationwide; one of only two in Minnesota.

YouthBuild prepares out-of-school youth for careers through hands-on construction training, and high school completion or General Educational Development programs. Since Tree Trust began operating its YouthBuild program in 2006, nearly 100 young people have participated in their program.

YouthBuild participants include individuals who have been in the juvenile justice system, youth aging out of foster care, high school dropouts and others. In addition to receiving academic and occupational skills training, young people develop leadership skills and participate in community service opportunities. Tree Trust’s YouthBuild program serves Minneapolis youth ages 17-21.

“Every day in America, 7,000 students drop out of high school,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis in a statement. “Our nation cannot afford to lose these young people. YouthBuild provides an important second chance to earn an education while also developing valuable skills for the jobs of today and tomorrow.”

“The funding available nationally this time was less than half of what was available last round, so it is especially satisfying to secure this grant,” said Susan Gethin, Tree Trust’s CEO. “I believe the award reflects the strength of our current program.”

Local businesses help schools in 2010-2011

Generous grants from the Xcel Energy Foundation and Covanta Energy will allow two schools to participate in Tree Trust’s Learning with Trees program during the 2010-2011 school year.

This fall/winter Somerset Elementary School (Mendota Heights, MN) and Nellie Stone Johnson Community School (Minneapolis, MN) will work with Community Forestry Manager Karen Zumach to form green teams of teachers, parents and school administrators. Over the course of the next several months the green teams will identify ways to transform their existing grounds into living laboratories that provide hands-on learning experiences for their students, and also provide natural environmental benefits to the local community.

In the spring each school will participate in Tree Trust’s interactive Our Town Trees exhibit, where students will learn about the benefits of trees and build a conceptual framework for the students’ planting experience at all-school events that will occur near the end of the school year. During the events, Tree Trust’s trained volunteers will lead groups of students through the entire process of planting trees. The students will be assigned various roles - digger, planter, mulcher, waterer - and make each green teams’ landscape plans a reality.

Teachers from each school will also be provided with a “tree trunk” of lesson plans and tools to use with students to incorporate environmental education both inside the classroom and in their new outdoor learning area.

Thanks to our sponsors – Xcel Energy Foundation and Covanta Energy- for helping us bring Learning with Trees to two new schools!

Our thanks to recent funders

Tree Trust thanks our most recent funders for their support:

Allina Health Systems
American Legion Post 424 - Inver Grove Heights
The Bloomington Community Foundation
Bloomington Lions Club
CenterPoint Energy
Connexus Energy
East Central Energy
Ecolab Foundation
Fiber Artisans Guild
Lillian Wright & C. Emil Berglund Foundation
The McKnight Foundation
OptumHealth
The Pentair Foundation
Quadion Foundation
RBC Foundation - USA
Rosemount Lions Club
City of Rosemount - SKB Environmental Trust Fund
Target Foundation
TruStone Financial

Thank you for supporting our programs!

HealthPartners goes green

HealthPartners has teamed up with Tree Trust to reduce clutter and save trees. In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day (April 22, 2010), they are asking HealthPartners members to switch from having their explanation of benefits (EOBs) sent through snail mail to receiving them through secure online delivery.

If at least 1,000 members sign up between April 22 and May 22, HealthPartners will sponsor the planting of 20 trees at one of our Green Futures planting events this fall.

EOBs stay in your secure, online HealthPartners  account for as long as you have coverage with HealthPartners. So if you sign up today and get an online EOB tomorrow, you'll still be able to view that EOB five years from now, or whenever you choose, as long as you're with HealthPartners.

Are you still receiving your stuff the old fashioned way? Think of all the trees we could save (and plant) if every HealthPartners member signed up to go paperless this month. Do your part to end the paper pileup by logging into your online HealthPartners account and making the switch today.

Haven't created your online account yet? Go to healthpartners.com/gopaperless to sign up.

Learning with Trees: Local businesses support environmental education

With the continued support of East Central Energy and CenterPoint Energy, and a new grant from Cargill Inc., Tree Trust has been able to bring our Learning with Trees program to three Minnesota schools during the 2009-2010 school year.

During the month of April, students in each of these schools will participate in the interactive Our Town Trees exhibit, an environmental learning opportunity that includes five modules such as "Trees Are Cool" and "Trees Clean Our Water," that teach the benefits of trees to build a conceptual framework for the students' hands-on planting experience that will occur later in the school year.

Green teams made up of teachers, principals, maintenance workers and parents from each school have been hard at work with our school coordinators to develop a new landscape plan for their schools' grounds. The goal for each school's green team:  to transform their playgrounds into living laboratories that provide continued opportunities for outdoor learning.

Thank you to our recent funders!

Tree Trust recently received grant funding for our 2010 programs from a number of corporations and foundations, including:

Baker Foundation
Cargill
CenterPoint Energy
East Central Energy
Nash Foundation
Private Bank of Minnesota
Smikis Foundation
Tennant Foundation

Thank you for your support!

Economic stimulus package benefits Twin Cities' lives and landscapes

To find Tree Trust at work in your community, just step out of the house. Take a walk in the park to see a crew of eight youth constructing a much-needed staircase. Visit your local library to see one of our job trainees stocking shelves. Take a ride in Minneapolis to see a crew building a house for a low-income family.

In 2009, we're employing and training over 1,400 young workers to make positive, lasting changes in their lives and in their communities. Compare that to the just over 800 participants we were able to serve in 2008. Not only are more young people receiving paychecks and learning how to be good workers, but also our parks and public spaces are getting safer, more accessible and more beautiful thanks to the impressive projects our job trainees complete.

We've been able to nearly double our impact thanks to new funding we received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.