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.

Remembering a friend of Tree Trust

In early 2008, the pocket park on 8th Avenue and Washburn in north Minneapolis was not a welcoming, family-friendly green space where neighbors came to play or gather. So in the summer of 2008, Tree Trust starting working on a project to transform the park into something the neighborhood could be proud of.

We quickly met Rob MacIntyre, a handy guy with a big heart who lived near the park. Rob had been watching the Tree Trust youth crew who had been removing debris and rebuilding the decaying retaining wall, and he offered to lend a hand…and tools, and equipment, and humor, and...

Over the next two years Rob got several of his neighbors involved in the neighborhood improvements and worked alongside our youth crews, many who lived in the area, to plant trees, create gardens and transform the area.

We were saddened to learn about Rob’s passing after Sunday’s tornado, and we look forward to soon restoring the damaged parts of the green projects Rob helped us complete.

We have a special place in our hearts for Rob. Any donations made in his memory will be used to help involve the community and Tree Trust’s youth crews in replanting efforts in north Minneapolis.