Let it snow...

YACC participant shoveling snow

Tree Trust's Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC) spent much of the week shoveling snow from last weekend's snow storm. YACC participants provide snow removal for Hennepin County Libraries, Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority, and foreclosed properties in the metro.

Over the past week YACC crews, along with other Tree Trust employment programs,  cleared snow from 205 properties and 9 staircases along the Midtown Greenway.

Yesterday advanced participants took a break from snow removal to attend the Economics for Success training, for which the curriculum is provided by partner Junior Achievement. Today entry-level participants will be in training on Construction Math and Measuring.

Is it the end of the charitable deduction?

You may have received a year-end appeal from Tree Trust or another nonprofit organization this year. You may have already given, and if you did, you likely received a thank-you note that included the following line or something similar:

"Your gift is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law."

Well, this quite possibly could be the last year that your thank-you letter will include that information, because it could be the last year that there is a tax deduction for charitable giving. The federal government is considering eliminating this and other tax deductions as a way to avoid the "fiscal cliff" and increase revenue from high income Americans in order to reduce our country's debt.

If this passes, it will discourage giving. See this article from the Philanthropy Potluck blog by the Minnesota Council on Foundations for more information including statistics on how much of a reduction in giving to expect. One major fact to note is that the vast majority of Minnesotans who give have incomes of under $200,000, and many of those are under $50,000.

Perhaps you don't donate to a nonprofit, but this change would likely still affect you or your loved ones. If charitable donations are decreased, many organizations who provide public services will be affected. Do you ever go to a farmer's market, a library, a church or your local YMCA? Museums, food shelves, health clinics and hospitals, colleges and universities, libraries, religious institutions, homeless shelters, theaters, sports programs, childcare programs, and community gardens could all be affected along with many other nonprofits. In sum, services provided by nonprofits that improve the quality of life for Minnesotans every day could be negatively impacted if the deduction for charitable giving is eliminated or reduced.

How can you help? Email or call your representative or senator and ask them to protect charitable giving. Ask your friends and family to do the same. Share this article on social media to help raise awareness.

Giving Tuesday

Have you heard of Giving Tuesday? We have Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday to encourage shopping, shopping, and more shopping, but giving back during the holiday season often gets lost in the shuffle. There is nothing wrong with purchasing gifts during the holidays, but a new national movement is trying to remind us that the holidays are also a time to share time, money, and resources with those who are less fortunate.

Tree Trust encourages you to think about what you have to give. Do you have time to volunteer? Or do you prefer to share your financial resources? You can choose to do either of these things from the front page of the Tree Trust website. Select “Donate Now” or “Get Involved” to learn how you can be an active giver with Tree Trust.

You can also subscribe to the Tree Trust e-newsletter from the front page of our website to stay informed of volunteer opportunities and general Tree Trust happenings. We unfortunately will not have many volunteer opportunities until spring since we can't plant trees in frozen ground, but you’ll be “in the know” of others things going on with Tree Trust.

If you don't have time to volunteer, but are interested in supporting Tree Trust's work, please consider making a donation. Or, do you need a meaningful gift for someone who has everything? Or for someone who cares deeply about the environment? Consider making a contribution in their honor to our Green Futures fund.

Please join us tomorrow for Giving Tuesday. Learn more at givingtuesday.org or follow #GivingTuesday on Twitter.

What We're Thankful For

Tree Trust has a lot to be thankful for this year and in the spirit of Thanksgiving we would like to reflect on some of the things that make us thankful for being a part of this great organization.

• We had five successful Learning with Trees events this year. Besides the events being fun, it also gives us an opportunity to see budding environmental stewards as children help to improve the landscape at their schools by planting trees!

• With the help of volunteers we recently planted trees in North Minneapolis, Eden Prairie, and Fridley. Volunteer participation allows us to have these events, and also gives people an opportunity to work alongside their neighbors while bettering their community.

• In September we snagged some media attention when we teamed up with Jason Mraz, KS95, and Reverb for a planting event. The publicity was great and only helps to raise awareness of the importance of our work.

• Last but not least on our list of things that we're thankful for this fall, we are thankful for being one of four finalists for the Toro Grant Initiative "Green Spaces Make Better Places," which makes us eligible to win a $7,000 grant. You can help us win that grant by voting here.

Before you go out shopping on Black Friday remember that dedicating a Green Futures tree to someone makes a great Christmas gift! We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

Thanks for supporting us!

Thanks to new donors and old, we raised $2,580 yesterday for Give to the Max Day! We appreciate the ongoing support from current donors, and we welcome new donors into the fold. These contributions help us to meet our mission of improving the community environment by investing in people. Support enables us to...

• Provide meaningful opportunities for greening our local community
• Give youth the chance to experience success, boost their self-confidence and find direction
• Teach practical job skills to help adults reshape their lives
• Help neighbors understand and connect with each other and the natural world

This year is the fourth year of celebrating Give to the Max Day in Minnesota, and Tree Trust has gladly participated each year. It's a great day to join thousands of donors and nonprofits to raise millions of dollars for our Minnesota communities! If you missed out yesterday and still want to support Tree Trust, please visit our website. Thanks to all who supported us yesterday.

Participate in Give to the Max Day!

Give to the Max Day is on Thursday, November 15. Consider making a contribution to support Tree Trust's employment training, community forestry, and environmental education programs this year.

Give to the Max is a great way to see the impact that your gift can have when it's joined with the gifts made by thousands of other people on the same day. Learn more about Give to the Max Day and make a contribution to Tree Trust or another great nonprofit on November 15. 

October's Learning with Trees

October has been a busy and successful month for the Tree Trust Learning with Trees program. Our first event at Orono Intermediate School on October 17 was in partnership with Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, Orono Intermediate, and the Beim Foundation. Students, teachers, and volunteers planted 13 trees and 14 shrubs for a Minnesota Tree Identification walk at a short nature trail near the school.
 

The area where trees were planted is called Listening Point and is managed in conjunction with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. There were a variety of trees and shrubs planted at Listening Point including Bur Oak, Red Twig Dogwoods, Basswood and Hackberry. Each tree received an identification plaque mounted in the ground for interpretive purposes. The program was made possible by funding from the Beim Foundation.

The second event at Prairie Seeds Academy in Brooklyn Park on October 26. The program was funded by CenterPoint Energy, which also provided volunteer and technical support.

Prairie Seeds Academy acquired a new school building and grounds about two years ago. There is a small woodlot on the school property that had potential as an outdoor learning area. Some trails had already been created through this woodlot but there was room for improvement. Ten benches were installed in a circle in the woodlot to act as an outdoor classroom. Twelve trees and 14 shrubs representing several native Minnesota tree species were planted by Prairie Seeds students and now line the trails to create a Minnesota Arboretum Walk.

Many thanks to the CenterPoint Energy, the Beim Foundation, students, teachers, and volunteers who made these events a success!

E-Cycling for Schools

OceanTech, an organization dedicated to providing environmentally responsible electronics recycling, is offering its 3^rd Annual Educators’ E-cycling Initiative until November 1, 2012. Tree Trust will receive a one cent donation from OceanTech for every pound of e-waste that it collects from schools.

OceanTech is improving our Twin Cities environment through recycling and responsibly disposing of e-waste, preventing harmful chemicals from leaching into groundwater, air, and soil. They will help to improve our environment further by contributing to the Green Futures fund, which supports community tree planting events in Twin Cities parks and recreation areas.

So far this year, they have collected 95,532 pounds of e-waste! That's $955.32 that they will contribute to planting trees through the Tree Trust Green Futures fund. Can you help us increase that number? Speak to your school, you child's school, or a school in your neighborhood and find out if they have some old, unused electronics that need to be disposed of properly.

There are nine days left for your school to participate, so what are you waiting for? Learn more about OceanTech from their website, or call Josh Heath from OceanTech at 612-331-4456 or email him for more information.

Youth Voting Registration Event

In an effort to encourage young people to vote, Tree Trust is hosting a nonpartisan event to register youth ages 18-21 to vote. The event will take place at the Brookdale Library in the Brookdale Room on October 8 from 4:30 to 5:30 PM.

Youth will be assisted in determining if they are already registered or not, and they will learn where their polling place is so that they know where to go on Election Day.

There will also be a short presentation called “How Voting in the US Works…in Under Five Minutes” to help educate youth on the Electoral College. 

Pizza will be served to youth participants at the event, and the first 25 youth who register to vote will receive a gift card for Godfathers Pizza.

Volunteer this fall!

Have you ever volunteered with Tree Trust? Would you like to? We are looking for volunteers to help plant trees as part of our annual GreenFutures plantings. The first will be on Saturday, October 6 in Eden Prairie at Forest Hills Park and the second will be in Fridley on Saturday, October 13 at the Springbrook Nature Center. 

Tree Trust staff and Tree Trainers train volunteers on-site on the proper method of planting a tree so no experience is necessary - just be willing to learn, have fun and enjoy the outdoors! Plantings are family-friendly, so feel free to bring your kids  as long as they are well-supervised. Check out the volunteer page of our website to learn more and sign up!

Are you interested in becoming a Tree Trainer? Tree Trainers learn how to lead other volunteers and students in planting trees properly at Green Futures and Learning with Trees plantings. Tree Trainers have to attend a training and volunteer at two events per year. We just happen to have a Tree Trainer Training this Saturday, September 29 with a few openings left. Sign up here!

Green Futures gives volunteers a chance to actively participate in improving our local environment. In addition, individuals can support the program through contributions to the Green Futures Fund. Nearly $50,000 has been donated to Green Futures since 2008 and each dollar donated by individuals is matched by a local family foundation.

Each $150 in the fund plants another tree for a total of over 720 trees planted in the Twin Cities to date! Trees planted through Green Futures are six- to ten-feet tall well-established trees which have a much greater chance of survival than seedlings.

Please consider joining us for an event this fall. Volunteering with Tree Trust is a great, hands-on way to give back to the community!

Prepare Your Trees for Winter

Wondering how to care for your trees once the cold weather sets in? Get started this weekend with a few tips from Tree Trust's Community Forestry Manager, Karen Zumach.  

Water, water, water! We’re in a drought and large trees need our assistance. Don’t forget your boulevard trees, they need water too! Over the next few weeks, placing your hose on a slow trickle around the dripline of your tree for 30-60 minutes will go a long way to helping your tree survive the drought. Increasing the soil moisture is the name of the game, keep your hose on a low flow to decrease the possibility of run off.

Rake. If you have spots on your leaves from fungus or other nefarious leaf issues, it’s important to rake them up and get them out. Fungus and bacteria can survive in the soil through the winter and reinfect your tree/shrub in the spring. 

Protect. Most ornamentals are quite delicious to our furry friends, so be sure to create some sort of exclusion area, either with chicken wire or plastic tubing around the trunk (be careful if you’re using chicken wire, you don’t want to knick the bark!). If you have thin-skinned, young trees like maple or basswood, wrap them before the snow flies to protect the tree from sun scald.

Plant. Fall is a great time to plant for two reasons: the weather is perfect and you can’t beat the sales at the garden centers. Stay local if you can. You don’t want to buy a tree from a big box store because chances are good that it’s spent a large portion of its life living somewhere much warmer than here meaning it won’t be acclimated to our chilly winters. Make sure you plant your tree the right way!

The cool autumn weather is a great time to do yard work. Take advantage of the great weather and care for your trees before the snow flies!

 

Jason Mraz and Tree Trust

Jason Mraz has a show at the Target Center in Minneapolis this Sunday, September 16. Mraz is a great supporter of environmental causes and he plans to plant trees with Tree Trust on Sunday morning. This effort is the result of a partnership between Mraz, Tree Trust, Reverb, and KS95.

Some lucky fans will have a chance to join Mraz and Tree Trust in the planting event and win free tickets to the concert through a contest on KS95. Contest winners were selected yesterday.

The Tree is A Four Letter Word campaign launched as part of the 2012 Jason Mraz North American tour. It supports local environmental organizations and aims to engage and inspire fans to take action.

Tree Trust will also be at the concert on Sunday with an informational table in the "eco-village." We will be selling stickers, the proceeds of which will benefit our programs! Feel free to stop by prior to the concert for information about our programs and to purchase a sticker.

End of Summer at Tree Trust

Though the summer isn't technically over yet, Labor Day marks the unofficial end of the season for most Minnesotans. At Tree Trust, our summer season ends in August with the completion of the Summer Youth Employment Program, the summer cohort of the Young Adult Conservation Corps, and the YouthBuild advanced crew. All of the youth employment training programs work with youth in the summer months, and some work with youth year-round.

Summer is a busy time of year for our youth programs. Youth who are not in school for the summer have more time on their hands and greater need of guidance and positive activities than they do during the school year. Every summer for the past 36 years, Tree Trust has been here to provide youth with work experience, educational enrichment, and a paycheck for their summer work experience. 

So while most Minnesotans have been out enjoying the summer, Tree Trust staff have been here helping our participants find positive direction. Now that summer is closing and many of our youth participants have returned to school, we take a little time to catch our breath before we hit the ground running with fall forestry events, new crews of YouthBuild and Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC) youth, and just generally preparing for the upcoming 2013 year.

By October, we’ll have nearly 50 youth participating with YouthBuild and YACC crews and Community Forestry has a busy autumn with Green Futures and Learning with Trees plantings. Thanks to all who have provided funding for Green Futures plantings this year – and especially to our anonymous donor who matches all of these contributions. 

Public plantings will be held in parks in Eden Prairie and Fridley in early October. Learning with Trees projects at schools in Orono and Brooklyn Park are being funded by CenterPoint Energy and Beim Foundation. We will also work with Wells Fargo and their volunteer team and a generous anonymous donor to plant more trees in selected parts of tornado-damaged North Minneapolis.

Tree Trust had a busy summer working with over 600 youth, and the break between seasons is short as we shift gears and move into our fall projects starting... now.

A Summer Well Done

The YouthBuild program is an employment training program for at-risk youth primarily from Hennepin County. Participants rehab and rebuild homes in low-income neighborhoods with our housing partner, Urban Homeworks. During the school year, the program operates in conjunction with alternative schools so that youth attend school and work during alternate weeks. 

This summer, Tree Trust offered an extended program to participants who earned a spot on an advanced crew through their work ethic and attitude during the school year program. Advanced crew participants worked five days per week from June through August with the daily guidance, support and encouragement of their crew leader. The advanced crew finished their summer work on August 24 and the following article is written by their crew leader, Ty Nelson. 

Learn more about the program or apply here. 

It was near program’s end when I was asked for a highlight of the 2012 YouthBuild Advanced Summer Crew. But I couldn’t provide a single example; not for the reason that my group had done nothing memorable in ten weeks, but because their accomplishments were countless. I simply couldn’t narrow their achievements down to one crowning point. Therefore, like a proud poppa, I rattled off a highlight reel instead of a lone capstone. 

From June 18 till August 24 the ambitious contingent worked on various Urban Homeworks properties in North Minneapolis. They set the tone instantly, fleetly finishing the garage they started from the slab up this past April. In fact they shingled, sided, and installed the stall’s soffit and fascia in less than a fortnight. And during the Dog Days to follow, the five-member squad completed many challenging tasks, such as tearing down a four-story chimney, spending three days reroofing another garage, siding two more, and putting in the drain tile around an entire basement in just one day. Due to their efficiency and consistency, the summer crew was appropriately deemed the “A-Team” by Urban Homeworks staff.

Though the A-Team’s construction skills were excellent, what I found more impressive was their character. They took a lot of pride in their work. There were numerous moments, for instance, when I saw a YouthBuilder remove a length of siding or tear off a shingle in order to realign the piece perfectly. They also displayed great teamwork. On a couple of occasions my group collaborated with the Quicksilvers—Urban’s longtime lineup of mostly retired professionals—successfully installing several new windows on two different houses. Last but not least, the crew members proved their tenacity time and time again. Despite the difficulty of the project, the umpteen wasp nests they uncovered, or whether the weather was sweltering, they were rarely fazed. Attendance was normally 90% or better. 

The YouthBuilders sought ways to grow off the jobsite too. Not only did they earn their CPR/First Aid certifications, but they volunteered for a morning in the Food Bank at Second Harvest Heartland as well. Interested in furthering their education, they also toured the campuses of Hennepin Tech and Saint Paul College.

Regardless of their aforementioned feats, however, I’d say the best part of my experience with the Advanced Summer Crew (if I had to choose) was witnessing this group accomplish so much in such a short amount of time. Because of their remarkable resolve, I’m naturally excited for what the future has in store for these five go-getters. I’m sure there are many more highlights to come. 

—Tyrel Nelson, YouthBuild Crew Leader

Youth Conservation Corps

There have been some questions on social media lately regarding the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) and the work that Tree Trust participants do in public spaces around the metro – primarily public park and recreation areas and the Midtown Greenway.

This work, which is enhancing public spaces and benefiting the community at minimal cost to the municipalities, is being done by the Tree Trust Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), which is part of the Summer Youth Employment Program. The majority of program participants are 14-17 years old and this program provides a first job experience to these youth, all of which have special needs, are low-income, or have other at-risk characteristics.

Youth build projects in Twin Cities parks and recreation areas such as retaining walls, stairways, timber edgers, and paver pathways. This program provides a learning experience that youth would not otherwise have and provides them an opportunity to spend 16-24 hours per week being positively involved in their communities.

In addition to providing worthwhile enhancements to public spaces, the projects that YCC participants build are a means to an end; they provide the method by which youth learn teamwork, accountability, and responsibility, as well as landscaping and construction skills. Youth are learning these skills while on the job and do not work as quickly as experienced adults. Additionally, they cannot operate power tools or heavy equipment, which significantly speed up projects at many construction sites where trained adults work.

As the Youth Conservation Corps is a job training program, youth do not work the entire time they are on a job site. In addition to their projects, youth participate in TeamTech lessons via laptop computers at work sites that allow them the opportunity to earn high school credit. These lessons are taught by trained instructors. Additionally, Tree Trust abides by all labor laws and provides water and lunch breaks according to regulations.

Tree Trust has worked closely with parks departments and municipalities all over the metro for 36 years. These partners provide projects to participants that fit the skill set of inexperienced workers and can be finished in the nine weeks that the program operates each summer. Additionally, parks departments and municipalities provide only the materials for the project and do not pay Tree Trust or its participants for their time. The projects are supervised by trained adults and meet Tree Trust's, and our partners', high standards. 

Please visit our Facebook page to view project photos or our website to learn more. If you have specific questions, please feel free to call our office at 952-767-3880.

Youth Conservation Corps picnics

Tree Trust will recognize and honor participants from our Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), which is a sub-program of the Summer Youth Employment Program, at five picnics in the metro area this week and next week. This summer, the program served more than 300 at-risk, special needs and low-income youth, ages 14-21, from the Twin Cities metro area.

Throughout the nine week program, participants have made improvements to local parks and recreation areas in Minneapolis and Saint Paul and in Hennepin, Washington and Dakota counties. The Youth Conservation Corps provides a summer employment experience to participating youth, and also helps participants to create lasting, positive changes in their communities and in their own lives.

Working from June to August, Youth Conservation Corps crews completed numerous improvement projects in approximately 25 Twin Cities parks and recreation areas, including the Midtown Greenway, Como Park, Westwood Hills Nature Center, French Regional Park, Square Lake Park, and North Valley Park. The picnics will be held to celebrate the accomplishments of these youth, including the presentation of Governor’s Awards to a number of youth who demonstrated outstanding leadership on their crews.

View photos of projects and participants on our Facebook page!

Community Forestry Highlights

This summer we had a great intern, Christina, who did a lot of video work for Tree Trust. We'll be posting some of her work in the coming weeks and months. Here is the first installment:

Enjoy!

Individual Employment Placements

The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) has two sub-programs, the Youth Conservation Corps and Individual Employment Placements. You have already seen a blog entries about the Youth Conservation Corps, but probably know less about Individual Employment Placements. For the individual placement portion of the program, SYEP staff works with a variety of community partners like libraries, governmental agencies, businesses, and nonprofits that are able to provide employment experiences to youth participants. Youth work in these community organizations and learn skills in the areas of customer service, childcare, janitorial, and administrative, among others.

Some examples of organizations where Tree Trust youth are placed this summer include ARC's Value Village in Richfield, Intermediate School District 287 in Plymouth, South St Paul Library in Hastings, Feed My Starving Children in Eagan, Independent School Districts 192 and 196 in Rosemount and Farmington, and the City of Brooklyn Center. There are 89 sites in total and 317 youth participants from Dakota and Hennepin Counties in the Individual Employment Placement portion of SYEP.

Providing this program allows Tree Trust to increase the number of youth we serve, provide more variety of experience, and work with youth who may not be able to participate on the Youth Conservation Corps. If you are interested in hosting a Tree Trust participant at your workplace next summer, please contact us.

Summer Projects

Tree Trust's Summer Youth Employment Program is working in parks and recreation areas all over the metro. We have been out taking photos to document the progress of some of the projects. Have a look at some of the work that young people are doing in your neighborhood!

Father Hennepin Park 6.28.12

Father Hennepin Park 7.5.12

Crews at Father Hennepin Park in Minneapolis are building a tiered retaining wall along side a staircase that was build by Tree Trust crews last year.

Three Rivers French Park 6.20.12

Crews at Three Rivers French Park in Plymouth are doing a construction paver installation.

McMurray Fields 6.28.12

Crews at McMurray Fields in Saint Paul are building a retaining wall.

Midtown Greenway 6.28.12

Midtown Greenway 6.28.12

Crews along the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis are building a retaining wall along the bike path.

North Valley Park 6.29.12

Crews at North Valley Park in Inver Grove Heights are building a 33-step timber staircase at the disc golf course.

Schmidt Lake Park 6.20.12

Schmidt Lake Park 6.20.12

Crews at Schmidt Lake Park in Plymouth are building a retaining wall at a playground.

The Summer Youth Employment program has youth crews working all over the metro on the Youth Conservation Corps. Keep an eye out and perhaps you'll see some of their work up close! We will continue to document their projects over the course of the 9-week program. See more photos on our Facebook page.