To achieve Tree Equity, community members must drive the change in their neighborhoods.
Trees provide critical public health and climate resiliency benefits that support basic human needs like breathing fresh air, drinking clean water and enduring extreme heat. They also provide several environmental services like reducing climate-warming greenhouse gases through carbon storage and decreasing stormwater runoff through the absorption of rainwater. Trees are essential for all life, from humans to the soil beneath our feet. Even our social lives are improved by trees in in unexpected ways. Yet, the human impact on the environment has significantly influenced where forests and trees are found today. Not only does this have to do with where trees naturally grow, get planted and are maintained, but it is also an outcome of the past decisions that have shaped the landscape in our cities and towns. Particularly important to the focus of community-based work, decades of discriminatory policies and unequal balances of power have resulted in the inequitable distribution of trees and their essential lifesaving benefits.
Historically marginalized and low-income communities have significantly less tree cover compared to wealthier and predominantly white neighborhoods, according to American Forests’ Tree Equity Score. American Forests' Tree Equity Score American Forests coined the term Tree Equity to describe this systemic problem. Entrenched systems of oppression have diminished the influence of residents over the places they live and have left little room for the kind of deep engagement needed to center community voices. Systemic racial injustice has led to many of these skewed power structures. But there are many dimensions to these issues, and the way they play out in one community may not be the same for another. That is why Tree Equity can only be achieved when resident input is elevated and incorporated into decision making.
This Community Action Guide provides strategies and tools for groups to design an inclusive process that will elevate the voices of those who have been historically excluded and experience the greatest disparities in tree canopy. It is a resource intended to facilitate action through hands-on exercises that encourage community dialogue and support groups in implementing initiatives to achieve outcomes aligned with Tree Equity. This guide emphasizes that any solutions, at their core, require a community-building mindset rooted in the understanding that meaningful change comes from people thinking, talking and working together. This does not necessarily mean always agreeing with one another, but it requires an openness to question your own assumptions and to work outside of your comfort zone.
If equity isn’t enough of a reason for why community members must have the opportunity to be front and center in decision making, organized collective action has the power to create long-lasting solutions that benefit all people. It has the capability to interweave the social dimensions of our communities, from arts and culture to the support systems built between neighbors that improve resilience in the face of climate change. Tree Equity is an inclusive framework, with the potential to be applied to a variety of community-based efforts and provide a pathway for harnessing place-based action.
Who is the intended audience?
Community is an all-encompassing term. It is used to refer to many types of groups of people brought together based on a variety of factors, including common interest, purpose, action and place. It is an important question to consider about your own community or the community you are working with — what brings us together? In this guide, community is used to refer to any locally based group, operating at a neighborhood to city or town level. Trees are quite literally rooted in place, impacting the neighborhoods around them and dependent on the people nearby, so a shared sense of place is important for the process that this guide outlines. This guide was created with the understanding that there is a large spectrum of individuals and organizations that work for the good of the community. Based on this, the intended audience includes:
- Frontline and environmental justice organizations — This includes nonprofits and other types of organizations working on a range of social and environmental justice issues. They are likely deeply focused on achieving more equitable outcomes for their stakeholders. These types of organizations may be involved with community organizing and advocacy work to change local policies to be more equitable. They are often well-connected in residential networks and are effective at building community-driven action. Examples include advocacy-based environmental nonprofits, community health worker programs, ad-hoc committees and advocacy groups.
- Organized groups of community residents — This is meant to capture the spectrum of less-to-more formal groups of people in our communities. They have a direct stake in the quality of life in their neighborhoods because they live there and are concerned about the impacts to their neighbors. Some examples include block clubs and neighborhood organizations.
- Community and place-based nonprofit organizations — These are often nonprofit organizations that have a geographic focus within a city or town, such as a neighborhood, group of neighborhoods or other specific boundaries. They may or may not have an environmental focus but are driven by a mission to improve the lives of residents within that geographic boundary. They are likely well-informed about the different activities happening in that area and can serve as a good connector to community leaders. Some examples might include community development corporations and local tree planting organizations.
How to use this guide
This guide is designed to support community-based action to advance Tree Equity. It outlines a process that will help define what is important to the community and develop goals that will integrate Tree Equity into your social, environmental and economic initiatives. The guide is adaptable and can be used in both individual and team settings. A major focus of this guide is collaboration. If needed or as you see fit, you can work through the phases individually first to gain some familiarity and to identify what you bring to the work before you get started. It is recommended that you eventually discuss suggested prompts with the team of collaborators that you will be working with on these community action efforts, and all work through the suggested exercises in order to build a shared understanding.
Phases
This guide is separated into four “phases” meant to be followed in sequential order to take you from idea(s) to goal(s) to action. Each of these phases has more specific steps, questions and activities. Although phases were written with this sequence in mind, depending on the work your community group, organization or team has already done, you may find that you’ve accomplished the intended outcomes of earlier phases. If this is the case, you can skip ahead to later phases but read below about “Key questions” to evaluate if you are ready to move ahead. Adapt and use this guide in the most effective way for your community group’s needs.
Phase 1: Understanding Tree Equity
You will learn the context for Tree Equity, explore your community’s Tree Equity Score and work through prompts to develop your engagement strategy.
Phase 2: Determine priorities
You will learn how to collect feedback about the community’s personal experiences with trees and input on their priorities, and be guided through a process to interpret the feedback received.
Phase 3: Identify community assets and gaps
You will work through some prompts to identify the existing skills, relationships, opportunities and other resources that can be leveraged to achieve your Tree Equity goals.
Phase 4: Set goals and take action
You will use the community input you have gathered to identify and refine goals, develop actions to achieve those goals, and create an implementation timeline.
Key questions
Each of the four phases has a set of key questions at the top of the page that serve as a reference for what will be covered. Use these questions to determine if your team has already achieved the intended outcomes of that section. If your team can confidently respond to those questions, then feel free to proceed to the next phase.
Related resources
There are external resources linked throughout the guide that will provide more in-depth information on that topic. The aim is to not reinvent the wheel where others have already developed relevant tools.
In addition, downloadable worksheets are linked alongside suggested exercises. These are intended to facilitate hands-on work with this guide and allow the potential to take these exercises to community meetings, team discussions, and integrate them into other group settings.
Definitions
- Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin or income, with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies. EPA Definition
- Equality aims to provide every individual or group the same exact resources and opportunities.
- Equity is about ensuring that people receive resources and opportunities based on their needs. It recognizes that different individuals and groups have unique needs.
- Forestry is the science and practice of planting and caring for forests. This includes large woodlands and the urban forest (also commonly referred to as “urban forestry”).
- Tree Equity is about ensuring that people have access to the health, climate and economic benefits that trees provide based on their unique needs. Tree Equity
- Tree canopy / tree cover refers to the area of land covered by tree branches and leaves. These are places where the ground will be shaded by trees.
- Urban forests come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are an important element of urban landscapes. They include urban parks, street trees, landscaped boulevards, gardens, river and coastal promenades, greenways, river corridors, wetlands, nature preserves and more. USFS Urban Forests Definition
- Urban forestry deals with the science and practice of planting and caring for urban forests. Forests in urban landscapes require a tailored approach compared to traditional forestry.