GreenLatinos Awarded $25M USDA Urban Forestry Grant

WASHINGTON — Yesterday, the United States Department of Agriculture announced they are investing over $1B in nearly 400 projects to expand access to trees and green spaces in communities and neighborhoods nationwide. As part of this announcement, GreenLatinos is thrilled to announce we have been awarded a USDA Urban and Community Forestry Grant to support urban tree planting in Latino communities.

Following USDA’s announcement, GreenLatinos Founding President & CEO Mark Magaña released the following statement:

“GreenLatinos has been awarded $25M to expand our ‘Sustainable Cities Urban Greenspace' Initiative where we will provide new Grassroots Grantmaking for Tree Canopy Restoration across Latino Communities. We are excited to work with the USDA and regrant $20M to Latino community-based organizations for tree planting, maintenance, restoration, resilience, green workforce development, green urban planning, and community engagement - all while combating extreme heat.

This new initiative will significantly invest in Latino/e communities, which tend to have the least shade, parks, trees, and green infrastructure in their neighborhoods while suffering the most from health disparities due to climate change.

Our hope is that this investment from the USDA is just one of many investments to benefit the Latino community from the Inflation Reduction Act and President Biden’s Justice40 initiative. It is our goal, through our Colaborativo40 program, that the Latino community receives an equitable share of federal grants to reap the benefits of these green investments.”

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About GreenLatinos

GreenLatinos (NOTE: GreenLatinos is ONE WORD) is an active comunidad of Latino/a/e leaders, emboldened by the power and wisdom of our culture, united to demand equity and dismantle racism, resourced to win our environmental, conservation, and climate justice battles, and driven to secure our political, economic, cultural, and environmental liberation.