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2022 Grants Challenge

A Dream You Can Live With

Inspiring the community to be curious about what they can do to become the architects of their own healthy environmental future. Through an innovative talking show-and-tell project we will tell a story about what happens when green space, trees and park access are an accepted and natural part of community life. It’s not always about what we get out of doing something. Instead, it can be about how something makes us feel while doing it.

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What is the primary issue area that your application will impact?

Green Space, Park Access, and Trees

In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?

Other:: Hollywood

In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative

What is your understanding of the issue that you are seeking to address?

“19% of all the tree canopy cover in Los Angeles exists where 1% of our population lives, concentrated in affluent areas. We must recognize that tree canopy is not just a beautification measure, but a central piece of our infrastructure.” Rachel Malarich LA's chief forest officer. The most severe harms from climate change fall disproportionately upon underserved communities who are least able to prepare for and recover from extreme heat and poor air quality. The obesity, hypertension, and diabetes rates among children under 18 within this area are among the highest in Los Angeles, due to physical inactivity. As the impacts of climate change get worse, people least able to prepare and cope are disproportionately exposed. This inequity can be changed through projects and policies that achieve both climate mitigation (green space, park access and trees) and adaptation (reduce the vulnerability of social and biological systems) in disadvantaged communities.

Describe the project, program, or initiative this grant will support to address the issue.

Our unique all-in-one project will drive impactful change to empower our vulnerable underserved low-income neighborhoods. From planting trees to cool streets and sequester carbon, to curating walks, to stimulating stakeholder engagement to effect local policy, our project will communicate that that environment is not out there, it is HERE. We will plant 100 trees in the tree wells and unimproved parkways on 10 streets that access the Hollywood Central Park. This builds a network of green streets enhancing residential streets, supplying tree canopy for shade, reducing heat island effects, absorbing pollutants, and promoting health and wellbeing. Extreme heat isn’t a joke (WaPo 6/17/22) reminds us of the importance and power of a newly planted tree. At each tree a QR code will provide tree specific information, useful facts and figures about street trees, such as trees in urban areas reduce the energy spent on heating and cooling by 7%. The trees planted closest to the Hollywood Central Park will speak to reconnecting our neighborhoods separated for nearly 70 years by the construction of US 101, providing a 38-acre park that protects the environment and provides a healthy quality of life and how this climate-resilient infrastructure project now in development, will craft a livable and sustainable community. A curated show-and-tell walk amongst the trees will inspire and rally the individual to be the architect of their own healthy environmental future.

Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.

Our goal is to drive impactful change by demonstrating real benefits. Apart from the health and environmental benefits of planting trees, collaborating with our community to create action takers has immense significance Los Angeles County’s healthy environmental future. As project videotapes are produced and available on our website, we expect that our project will be replicated throughout the County. Our curated walks communicate essential information, data, materials, to expand an individual’s knowledge base and provide the space for stakeholders to effectively work together. Every act has value, and it is only a matter of where to begin. In Los Angeles there is a strong inverse relationship between tree canopy distribution and Black and Hispanic populations. People of color comprise 84% of our project area with a total park area of less than 1%. It's time to have a in conversation and ask how does our community heal and thrive? Planting trees is one part of the answer.

What evidence do you have that this project, program, or initiative is or will be successful, and how will you define and measure success?

The goals and objectives, specifications, milestones, and deliverables established at the start determines project success. Accurate planning contributes directly to our success. The project team will track progress and identify needed improvements throughout the project. The budget, schedule, and quality of work, assessed regularly, will maintain the integrity of the project grant and will evaluate and quantify milestones and deliverables. Conducting data gathering, interviews and surveys ensure stakeholder participation and satisfaction. Stakeholder feedback and input is essential to the project’s success to secure a healthy environmental future for our community. From start to finish, the videotaped project, posted on our website and social media, demonstrates progress, mobilizes participation in curated walks, provides tree-planting information, and how to make green space, trees and park access an accepted and natural part of community life, among other key elements.

Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?

Direct Impact: 3,000

Indirect Impact: 22,250