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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.
CityRoots Description
In 7 years, CityRoots has worked with 32 community groups, comprised of over 600 residents, on more than 48 projects ranging from community greenspace installations to tree plantings and low-impact landscaping. CityRoots has helped transform front yards, streets, parks, vacant lots, and median strips into beautifully restored green areas. Since its inception in 2003, hundreds of 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 32 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 health and wellness benefits of the program's ecological improvmements are brought back to neighborhoods that need them most, and, most notably, stronger social bonds that foster community engagement and environmental stewardship are formed.
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Where We Work
Click on the map below for more information on the communities and groups CityRoots works with: