PROGRAMS
PARKS
Community Greening partners with cities to plant trees in public parks. Planting trees in parks is an effective way to increase the tree canopy, promote the park system, and encourage people to spend more time outside. Community Greening purchases and delivers trees; arranges call-before-you-dig; manages and educates volunteers; supplies tools, gloves, mulch, DJ, food and water; and provides 1 year of maintenance.
YOUTH TREE TEAM
YTT employs local teens to improve their neighborhood, to learn about green jobs, and to teach them about the environment. The teens get their first work experience by maintaining trees and public green spaces, conducting community outreach, and attending “green collar” enrichment activities.
SCHOOLS
Community Greening plants trees in schoolyards to cool and clean the air on school campuses and playgrounds. The trees planted are chosen from a Palm Beach County School District approved list of suitable species for schools based on risk, maintenance, and allergies. Community Greening has planted or is planting trees at Plumosa School for the Arts, Poinciana STEM Elementary School, S.D. Spady Elementary School and Village Academy School.
TREE GIVEAWAYS
CG holds tree giveaways to provide free trees to residents. Attendees receive free fruit or native trees to plant in their yards. At the event organized and staffed by Community Greening, residents provide their address and the species of tree they have received on an iPad to track each location and ecosystem benefits in our publicly available online database (Tree Plotter).
Tree giveaways are excellent opportunities to educate the public about the benefits of trees, tree species, “Right tree, Right place”, proper planting methods, and a city’s sustainability efforts. Each tree is tagged with the species and planting information. CG has an ISA Certified Arborist on site to answer attendees’ questions.
URBAN ORCHARDS
A collection of fruit trees that provide free fresh fruit to the community using a “you-pick” policy. These once neglected city-owned lots are now vibrant greenspaces that address food accessibility, healthy eating, and environmental stewardship. The fruit trees planted in urban orchards include: avocado, breadfruit, canistel, fig, guava, jackfruit, Jamaican cherry, mamey, mango, mulberry, persimmon, sapodilla, sapote, starfruit and sugar apple.
URban orchard locations:
Community grove at Catherine strong park
1500 SW 6th St., Delray Beach, FL 33444
Food forest at henrietta bridge farm
1400 Henrietta Ave.,West Palm Beach, FL 33401
Urban orchard at Sara sims park
209 NW 9th ave., Boynton Beach, FL 33435
RESIDENTIAL
CG plants free fruit and native shade trees at private homes in neighborhoods with low tree canopy coverage. Arborists on staff do a species and site selection with the homeowner, call for underground utilities, and tree installation. Residents receive a free 6’-10’ tree that has a retail value of $200-$300. Many residents say that they will use the fruit to give to their children and share with neighbors.
THIS PROGRAM RAN IN THE HEART OF BOYNTON WHICH is bounded by the C. Stanley Weaver (C-Canal) canal to the north, I-95 to the west, N.E. 3rd Avenue to the south, and the FEC rail line to the east.
THIS PROGRAM WAS FUNDED BY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR PALM BEACH AND MARION COUNTIES. With this grant we PLANTED 80 trees in the Heart of Boynton by September 2020, which HELPED continue our mission of increasing the tree canopy in the city of Boynton Beach, FL.