The Urban and Community Forest program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has allocated billions in grant funding across the U.S. — including Georgia — to increase urban tree canopies and the workforce in this area equitably.
Grant funding was made possible through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds. The Urban and Community Forest program was originally created as part of the Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which is centered around environmental justice and ensuring specific communities get at least 40 percent of certain federal funding opportunities.
In total, Georgia received $9.75 million in Urban and Community Forest IRA Grant Allocations — funding allocated from the federal government specifically for Georgia — and another $17 million in Notice of Funding Opportunity Grants in 2023, which was awarded after various grant proposals. This funding went to a number of nonprofits, neighborhood organizations, city governments, and more.
It’s well documented that trees mitigate the problems caused by urban heat islands — areas where concrete and lack of greenery lead to warmer temperatures than neighboring areas. The addition of trees provides shade and decreases temperatures, which will become increasingly important with rising global temperatures in a city with the nickname “Hotlanta.”
Urban heat islands also tend to affect poorer neighborhoods that are not afforded utilities like greenery as easily as their wealthier counterparts, and are often neighborhoods with a large portion of Black and Brown residents. A multidisciplinary project started in 2021 called Urban Heat ATL mapped out some of the city’s urban heat islands by empowering residents with sensors and collecting community data.
Partnership of Southern Equity was awarded $2 million for their program “Canopy for Just Communities,” which will focus on increasing urban tree canopy across underinvested areas in cities where it is needed, while also training community leaders in the importance of urban tree canopy.
“We are truly grateful to receive dollars from USDA to advance a tree equity agenda in Atlanta and beyond,” said Nathaniel Smith, founder and CEO of the Partnership for Southern Equity. “We must work together to ensure the distribution and maintenance of our tree canopy are leveraged in ways that create more just and inclusive communities.”
ECO-Action, another community-based organization in Atlanta was awarded the over $400,000 to “lead efforts on educating, training, and protecting streams and forests, including Proctor Creek, Intrenchment Creek, Flint River, North Utoy and Sweetwater Creek.
The City of Atlanta was awarded $5 million to develop the city’s first Urban Forest Master Plan, “City in a Forest: Protecting Atlanta’s Legacy.” The project will, “complete comprehensive urban forest assessments, oversee risk reduction maintenance of trees, restore forested areas, and install signage to connect people with the natural environment,” in disadvantaged areas, according to Deputy Chief Sustainability Officer John R. Seydel of the City of Atlanta.
The effort was led by Taryn Heidel, Justin Cutler and Kathy Evans. The City of Decatur also received $100,000 which go towards developing a strategy of implementing tree canopies in the future.
One of the largest awardees was to Trees Atlanta, for the amount of $10 million dollars. The grant funds will go towards “increasing equitable access to the urban tree canopy and developing a sustainable, diverse nature-based workforce development program,” according to Seydel.
Though approaching from different angles and programs, all of the entities share a common goal: making sure the “City in the Forest” can live up to its nickname, while doing so with one of its guiding principles — equity.
