What you can do for the Twin Cities

In the Twin Cities, thousands of trees are lost each year to storms, pests, and disease. Thousands of young people face barriers to success in work and in life. And thousands of youth grow up without ever experiencing a connection with the natural world.

Luckily for the Twin Cities, people like you take action and work with Tree Trust to solve these problems. In the process, we enrich our own lives.

In the October issue of Community Ties, we asked you to tell us how getting involved with Tree Trust has impacted your life. Here are just a few of the great responses we received:

A Great Volunteer

Giampaolo Malin connected with Tree Trust in April this year, and since then he has volunteered more hours than any other individual in 2009. He has an inspiring commitment to the environment and to an overall ethic of civic responsibility, and we at Tree Trust are so grateful for his hard work and dedication.

Youthbuilders rehab a house in North Minneapolis

In this video, crews of YouthBuilders share their experiences as they seal the basement wall and wash the windows of a house they're rehabbing in North Minneapolis.

Learn more about YouthBuild.

Brooklyn Center awards Tree Trust for Random Acts of Kindness

On October 26, 2009, Tree Trust received the City of Brooklyn Center's Random Acts of Kindness award. Tree Trust received the award in honor of the staff and Youth Conservation Corps participants who worked so hard to improve the city of Brooklyn Center.

This summer several Youth Conservation Corps crews completed landscape and construction projects at Earle Brown Terrace, Kylawn Park and Brooklyn Center City Hall, while others completed internships at the Brooklyn Center Historical Society, Brooklyn Center City Hall, Earl Brown Heritage Center and Centerbrook Golf Course.

The award was presented to Tree Trust by Tim Wilson, Mayor of Brooklyn Center, during the October City Council meeting. Accepting the award on behalf of Tree Trust were Paula Van Avery, Case Management Coordinator, and Gabrielle Saygbe, 2009 Youth Conservation Corps participant.

Learn more about our Youth Conservation Corps program.

Green Futures volunteers plant trees at Lake Elmo Park Reserve

On Saturday, October 3, 2009, Tree Trust gave 33 community volunteers the tools and training they needed to plant 100 trees at Lake Elmo Park Reserve.

In this video, the volunteers talk about why they came out to brave the muck and tell us a bit about how to plant a tree.

Learn more about Green Futures.

See our current volunteer opportunities.

Winterizing our community trees

We encourage you to invest in the health of your own trees by following a few simple winterizing tips and to invest in the health of our community forest by donating to Tree Trust.

Our community forestry manager, Karen Zumach, prescribes this treatment for the trees we plant and maintain along the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority trail system (the Midtown Greenway and beyond) and suggests that you follow the same regimen in your own yard:

Trees aren’t a trend

There are over eight million hits on Google for the phrase “go green.” From the countless top-ten lists to the carbon footprint calculators to the articles on the dangers of nail polish, it’s safe to say that the world has green on the brain.

It seems like every company is trying to market its products as the latest and greatest green thing. Clearly, someone got the memo that green sells. But we at Tree Trust would like to reintroduce the ultimate green product, one that has been around since before the concept of going green was even a twinkle in someone’s eye. One that is not trendy, but timeless. Of course, it’s the mighty tree.

Building projects for a better outdoors

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.

Tree Trust’s employment training programs blend lives and landscapes together, and the concoction we create benefits the entire community in so many ways.

Young people overcome obstacles in their lives, experience success and develop pride in their abilities. Local businesses, nonprofits and community-serving agencies get to draw from an experienced workforce of young people who already know the basics, from the importance of getting to work on time to the value of a strong work ethic. And our parks and recreation areas get a facelift with real environmental benefits.

Youth Conservation Corps in Minneapolis

Minneapolis STEP-UP workers join Tree Trust's Youth Conservation Corps to earn money while creating positive, lasting changes in their lives and in their communities.

In this video, the job trainees talk about what they've learned during a summer of hard work.

Learn more about the Youth Conservation Corps.

Celebrating Young Adult Conservation Corps Graduates

"I don't even know how to plant a tree," said Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Stenglein to a group of Tree Trust Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC) graduates. "These are going to be skills you guys are using for the rest of your life."

On Friday, August 14, Tree Trust celebrated the graduation of 10 YACC participants with a ceremony and picnic at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. Hennepin County Commissioners Mark Stenglein and Peter McLaughlin as well as Tree Trust staff showed their support for the graduates' accomplishments and enjoyed lunch compliments of Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers.

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.

Golden Valley CityNews - Tree Trust projects help both youth and community

The City of Golden Valley's newsletter highlights a Tree Trust Youth Conservation Corps crew building a retaining wall in their city and details the history of our 30-year relationship.

Read the newsletter (we're on page 13).

Working Across Cultures

Two young women, dressed in ankle-length skirts and long headscarves, are hammering away on a large block of wood.

Upon looking at the t-shirt-and-shorts-clad youth working at the site, one may wonder if the women's attire acts as a hindrance to their work. A few minutes of careful observation, however, will reveal that these two young Somali women are among the most hardworking members of their Tree Trust Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) crew.

Jordan neighbors turn site of weeds, violence into community garden

"You couldn't even tell it was a garden," said crew leader Cortland Johnson as he and his crew loaded bag after bag into a truck bed. "Just looked like nothin' but weeds."

The Young Adult Conservation Corps crew spent three days on the corner of 26th and Knox Avenues North in Minneapolis whipping, pulling, raking and bagging weeds, tilling the densely compacted soil, laying down mulch and getting everything ready for the neighborhood to re-plant the Jordon Community Garden.

This corner lot has a history worse than weeds. On August 22, 2002, a riot broke out after police accidentally shot a boy during a botched drug raid at the adjacent property.

Star Tribune - Building them up on the job

The Star Tribune features a Youth Conservation Corps crew working at Groveland Park in Inver Grove Heights and explains how the federal stimulus funds are helping us reach more youth.

Read the story.

Eden Prairie Sun-Current - Tree Trust crew at work on Eden Prairie retaining wall

The Eden Prairie Sun-Current checks in on a Youth Conservation Corps crew building a retaining wall in Eden Prairie.

Read the story.

Stillwater Gazette - Tree Trust landscaping program employs low-income, special needs and at-risk youth

The Stillwater Gazette features a Youth Conservation Corps crew working at Big Marine Regional Park in Marine on St. Croix.

Read the story.

Kids do some dirty work

The Mankato Free Press reports on an all-school planting day at Washington Elementary in May 2009.

Read the story.

Community invests in Spring Park's green future

Over 60 volunteers planted 165 trees along the Dakota Trail on Saturday, May 16, 2009 to transform the area into a family-friendly green space and improve the environment.

Tree Trust organized the planting as part of our Green Futures initiative, which turns charitable donations into trees. With the help of a dollar-for-dollar match from a local foundation, Tree Trust launched Green Futures to plant 5,000 trees in parks and neighborhoods throughout the Twin Cities metro area over the next five years.

Two trainees graduate from Young Adult Conservation Corps

Kenny Clark and LaTravis McCoy (pictured above) graduated from the Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC) program on Friday, March 27 after spending six months building park improvement projects, cutting down dead and diseased trees and removing buckthorn while developing a sense of teamwork and an appreciation for the rewards of hard work.