CityRoots: "Planting Pride, City Wide"

UEI's CityRoots program is an innovative, community-driven approach to ecological restoration that provides residents of Greater Boston's underserved neighborhoods the opportunity to come together, create a plan, and take action through hands-on community planting projects. In 6 years, CityRoots has worked with 28 community groups, comprised of over 550 residents, on more than 40 projects that have transformed front yards, streets, parks, vacant lots, median strips and other precious urban landscapes into beautifully restored green areas. Since it's inception in 2003, 218 trees have been planted in Boston's urban neighborhoods, as well as, countless shrubs and perennials.

CityRoots has proven to be more than just a community planting program. The physical and social transformations CityRoots has made possible over the years illustrate that the health of the urban ecosystem is closely tied to the strength of the urban communities residing within it. The underserved neighborhoods where CityRoots projects take place are disproportionately lacking in trees and parks, and often shoulder a disproportionate amount of the environmental burden of the surrounding region. CityRoots recognizes the fact that making a neighborhood greener is a community-building opportunity that continues on after the planting project is completed. For this reason, UEI encourages community groups to apply for CityRoots assistance for as many years as it takes to see their neighborhood project(s) realized. Of the 28 community groups CityRoots has engaged over the years, 14 of them have participated in the CityRoots program for 2 or more years. As a result, the public health and ecological benefits of trees and green space are brought back to neighborhoods that need them most, and stronger social bonds that foster continued environmental and community stewardship are formed.

Applying to CityRoots

Urban community groups, such as neighborhood associations and youth crews, apply to the CityRoots program in the early spring with a specific project in mind. Selected groups receive financial and technical assistance to achieve their project's goals. UEI contracts community-minded individuals with forestry, landscaping, horticultural and/or other ecological backgrounds as Community Foresters to work directly with each CityRoots group to help get more community members and stakeholders involved, develop their project plan, learn more about their urban environment, how to select, plant and prune trees, host community events, and continue to maintain their project after the CityRoots program ends.

For more information or to inquire about applying for 2009 CityRoots assistance, contact Rachael Dobson, Sustainable Cities Program Manager, at dobsonr@bc.edu.

Browse the 2008 CityRoots Photo Journal

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