Jared Smith , Executive Director | CEO
This year has been an eventful one for community forestry and workforce development initiatives. In 2023, the federal government allocated significant funding to nonprofits, municipalities, and other local entities through the Inflation Reduction Act to strengthen the urban tree canopy and invest in the green industry workforce. Tree Trust is excited to work with new and existing partners to implement this funding in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota, along with continuing our independent programming to serve the community.
In addition to numerous community tree planting and distribution events with existing partners, our Community Forestry department collaborated with twelve new cities to distribute healthy,
You
Individuals, organizations, & communities around the country are coming together to plant trees and train the next generation of workers.
confidence with a wide range of tools and equipment, using them to build timber staircases, create walking trails, frame houses, and more. Youth practiced good communication and leadership, gaining confidence in life skills such as conflict resolution and job interviews.
Tree Trust Landscape Services was thrilled to recognize our first ever Certified Arborist Apprenticeship Program graduate in September of 2023. Three years of work – which included 6,440 hours combining classroom education and on-the-job training – culminated in the nationallyrecognized Arborist Journeyworker credential. Graduates are fully trained arborists and qualified to teach new apprentices advanced industry techniques and highest standards.
6-8 foot tall trees at little or no cost to local residents. This is an amazing way to build an awareness of the importance of trees among property owners, grow the canopy on private property, and foster a sense of collective pride and ownership in caring for trees throughout the metro.
Our Career Pathways programming supported 412 young people in their workforce journeys. Whether engaging in their first ever paid work experience, or completing advanced skill training and entering full-time employment, these young people made significant steps towards family-sustaining careers. Program participants identified life and career goals and developed actionable plans to pursue them. Crew members gained
These are exciting times in the green industry and skilled trades. There is amazing work to be done. Individuals, organizations, and communities around the country are coming together to plant trees and train the next generation of workers. Each of you is a vital part of the Tree Trust team. You make our work of transforming lives and landscapes possible, and I am thrilled to share some of our collective accomplishments from this year in the following pages.
Sincerely,
Jared Smith, Executive Director | CEO
Our mission is to transform lives and landscapes by engaging people to build skills for meaningful careers, inspiring people to plant trees, and making our community a greener, healthier place to live.
Professional
We teach the highest standards and operate with excellence.
Integrity
We do the right thing even when it’s hard.
Commitment
We take initiative and deliver on our promises.
Resilient
We adapt to achieve success.
Stewardship
We treat people with respect and take care of our resources.
guide our work every day and inform how we best serve our community:
We are committed to planting trees to grow a vibrant and resilient urban forest.
Our model of work is collaborative — with each other, with our community partners, and with the people we serve.
We equip people to achieve familysupporting, skilled trade, green careers to create economic opportunity and equity.
Our dedicated community of partners is instrumental in the successful pursuit of Tree Trust’s mission to transform lives and landscapes. Tree Trust’s dynamic partnerships help advance our vision of a thriving workforce living on a healthy planet. Hundreds of people and dozens of organizations and municipalities contribute their time, energy, and expertise each year, making it possible for us to deliver on our promises to serve youth and steward our environment. Tree by tree and project by project, they help us sow the seeds of a greener future.
In 2023, volunteers from local businesses and municipalities, national organizations, and neighborhoods throughout the metro stepped up to help plant and distribute trees in
In Career Pathways, many hardworking industry professionals PARTNERSHIP
the spring and the fall. Before each tree distribution event, people formed assembly lines to unload trees from semi-trucks and organize them by species. During the distribution events, other volunteers directed traffic, answered tree care questions, and creatively loaded trees and bags of mulch into vehicles of all sizes. The fun continued at tree planting events, as dozens of willing hands dug holes, planted trees, spread mulch, and staked and watered newly-planted trees. Community engagement didn’t stop once the trees were in the ground. Committed volunteers helped water new and established trees throughout the summer to ensure they could flourish in the heat.
generously shared their expertise to inspire the upcoming generation of green collar and skilled trades workers and lay the groundwork for them to gain meaningful employment. Local employers coached program participants, conducted practice interviews, taught financial literacy and budgeting, provided worksite tours, answered questions about life on-the-job, provided career exploration resources, and demonstrated technical skills. Through these connections, many Career Pathways participants entered employment with these partners after completing programming.
Thanks to each of our dedicated partners for your commitment. Your collaboration in our work is indispensable.
Rhea Rochon
Chair
Michael Huntington
Vice Chair
Dana S. Beasley
Treasurer
Gennae Falconer
Secretary
Larry Crosby
Director
Kurts Strelnieks
Advisory Director
Tree by tree and project by project, partners help us sow the seeds of a greener future.
Donald C. Willeke
Founder and Director Emeritus
G. Rolf Svendsen
Founder and Director Emeritus
Jared Smith
Executive Director | CEO
Anders Hawes
Director of Finance
Anne-Marie Hendrickson
Director of Development
Cindy Booker
Director of Career Pathways
Karen Zumach
Director of Community Forestry
Bjorn Hawes
Landscape Services
Business Operations Manager
Jeff Voshell
Landscape Services
General Manager
7,114 Trees Planted Community Tree Plantings 31
880 Volunteers 13 Tree Distributions
Tree Trust’s Community Forestry initiatives partner with the community to steward the tree canopy and plant a sustainable urban forest. Planting trees brings families, friends, neighbors, and coworkers together for a common purpose – transforming our city landscapes for a greener future.
As emerald ash borer (EAB) continues to destroy Minnesota’s urban landscape, Tree Trust’s Community Forestry team rolls up its sleeves and engages the community to remove dead or infested trees and restore the tree canopy by planting new, healthy trees. In cities across the metro, hundreds of volunteers from local and national organizations got their hands dirty this year digging holes, planting and watering trees, and spreading mulch to reforest parks, public boulevards, and school grounds.
Forestry initiatives include Green Futures™ tree plantings, community education for homeowners, municipal tree distributions and plantings, tree care training for youth, and greening school grounds through our Learning with Trees™ program. Projects in St. Louis Park and Saint Paul are just two of many examples from 2023. In St. Louis Park, we distributed hundreds of trees at discounted rates for local residents to plant on private
property, continuing a fifteen-year partnership with the city to foster a healthy tree canopy. As part of St. Louis Park’s Tree Canopy Project, Community Forestry staff and Career Pathways Branches program participants planted trees on private property and coached homeowners in proper tree maintenance techniques.
In Saint Paul, twenty-five enthusiastic high school students dedicated their MEA school break to join Tree Trust and Saint Paul Parks and Recreation in planting over 200 trees on public boulevards. The students helped revitalize areas destroyed by EAB, all while earning a paycheck and learning career skills. “Partnering with Tree Trust … nurtures a sense of community that will grow as our trees do,” says Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Director Andy Rodriguez. “Strengthening our urban canopy through tree planting not only provides shade and beauty, but also serves as a powerful investment in the health of our cities, improving air quality, reducing heat, and fostering wildlife diversity.”
We are so grateful for the many hands that make the important work of caring for our urban forest possible – work that benefits the community on multiple levels. Working side-by-side, we are creating a greener future for the good of our community, our planet, and ourselves.
Partnering with Tree Trust … nurtures a sense of community that will grow as our trees do.
412
Young people served, ages 14-28
83% Achieved postprogram job or educational placement
83 85
85% Earned a Tree Trust certificate or industryrecognized credentials
Through Career Pathways, Tree Trust is paving the way to meaningful, familysupporting careers for young people.
Tree Trust Career Pathways ignites the spark of inspiration to propel promising young people into skilled trade and green industry careers. Career Pathways offers paid, hands-on training to youth aged 14-28. In 2023, we welcomed 412 hardworking, resilient young people to our programming. Participants learned to work with skill and excellence, applying the Tree Trust standard of “straight is straight and level is level” to all aspects of their work.
Aspiring young people in Tree Trust’s preapprenticeship Branches program built skills in tree care, landscape conservation, property maintenance, and landscape construction. They learned the proper use of tools and equipment, focusing on safety, as they prepared to enter the workforce. Participants rounded out their skill sets by completing job readiness training in financial literacy, interview skills, and resume writing. They networked with local employers throughout programming, establishing connections for a direct on-ramp to employment.
Tree Trust was honored to be one of only three Minnesota organizations to be awarded a highly competitive YouthBuild grant from the U.S.
Department of Labor in 2023, receiving $1.5 million for the second consecutive time. Tree Trust YouthBuild is unique among other YouthBuild programs in providing both arboriculture and construction training. Our program helps young people discover their career goals and hone the skills to achieve them. Participant Kai discovered a passion for woodworking in the program and is looking forward to a bright future, stating, “Tree Trust literally changed my life.” Kai has been accepted into the carpentry program at Hennepin Technical College and will be a full-time PSEO student as a senior.
Our Summer Youth Employment Program welcomed over 150 promising young people. For many youth, it was their first paid job experience. Utilizing hand tools, teamwork, and grit, participants completed landscaping and construction projects at eleven unique outdoor work sites. They practiced transferable skills such as interviewing and budgeting, learned to use over thirty different hand tools, adapted to challenges to achieve project success, and celebrated the transformation of local landscapes through their hard work as a team.
Through Career Pathways, Tree Trust is paving the way to meaningful, family-supporting careers for young people. We are creating a pipeline of skilled workers for our community and helping our youth reach their full potential.
Tree Trust’s Landscape Services social enterprise actively transforms lives and landscapes by providing professional tree care and landscaping to residential and commercial clients and supporting Tree Trust programming. Our team of industry experts consistently provides high-quality services to benefit and green the community. Whether constructing decks and accessibility ramps, planting, pruning or removing trees, clearing snow and ice in winter, or manicuring lawns in the growing season, Tree Trust Landscape Services staff deliver world-class customer satisfaction year-round.
In addition to providing professional services, our staff trains aspiring arborists in the skills needed to enter fulfilling, family-supporting, tree care careers. Tree Trust’s Registered Arborist Apprenticeship Program combines the classroom and job site training required to become a professional arborist – all while providing a competitive, full-time wage. This year we celebrated Tree Care Supervisor Daniel Schmitter as our first graduate from the Arborist Apprenticeship Program and welcomed Tree Care Technician and Career
Pathways Branches program graduate Tyece Howze as a new apprentice.
Landscape Services also partners with our Career Pathways and Community Forestry teams and the community. Together, they plant trees in urban areas where they are needed most and train new green industry and skilled trade workers. One example from this year is their collaboration with the City of Roseville and Roseville Area High School. Tree Trust’s teams worked together to remove dead and infested ash trees in Roseville, replanting a diverse selection of diseaseand pest-resistant tree varieties along city boulevards. Landscape Services then delivered select ash logs to be milled into lumber for carpentry projects by students learning the skilled trades in a Career and Technical Education class at Roseville Area High School.
Tree Trust Landscape Services advances our vision of a thriving workforce living on a healthy planet by transforming landscapes and teaching young people the highest standards as they pursue career goals, one project at a time.
THANK YOU With
Thank you to each member of the Tree Trust team who supported our work through financial gifts in 2023. The crucial task of training a thriving workforce and stewarding a healthy planet would remain insurmountable without partners like you. With your support, we made remarkable progress in addressing the effect of the destructive pest emerald ash borer as well as training and encouraging promising young people as they developed skills for meaningful careers.
Your financial support allowed us to plant and distribute over 7,000 diverse trees in our urban landscape and provide interactive environmental education to 1,277 elementary students in the Twin Cities. You also enabled us to provide 412 youth and young adults with paid, career-advancing, workforce training opportunities. Our heartfelt gratitude extends to all our supporters for your unwavering dedication to stewarding our environment and investing in our future green industry and skilled trade leaders. Your generosity will continue transforming lives and landscapes today and for future generations.
Accenture
Allstate Foundation
Ally Financial
Arbor Day Foundation
Bachman’s Floral, Home and Garden — Minneapolis
Birchwood Financial Partners, Inc.
Burlington Stores, Inc.
Cargill
CenterPoint Energy
Connexus Energy
Dakota Electric Association
Ecolab Foundation
Economy Data Foundation — EDP Foundation
Evergreen Collective
General Mills
Golden Valley Garden Club
Grotto Foundation
Hewlett-Packard
HoneyHill Weddings
Jasmine & Iris Take Action Fund
Jaye F. & Betty F. Dyer Foundation
Johari Family Foundation
Lenfestey Family Foundation
Lillian Wright & C. Emil Berglund Foundation
Martin Foundation Inc.
McNeely Foundation
City of Eden Prairie
City of Edina
City of Hopkins
City of Maplewood
City of Mendota Heights
City of Minneapolis
City of Minnetonka
City of Minnetrista
City of St. Louis Park
Medtronic
Northrop Grumman
Old National Bank Foundation
Otto Bremer Trust
Penz Automotive Group
Radices Fund
RBC Foundation
Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation
Royal Credit Union Foundation
Royal Credit Union
Senior Care Communities, Inc.
Stantec Consulting Services, Inc.
Takeda
Tellett-Royce Family Fund
Tennant Foundation
The Calmenson Foundation
The Church of St. Edward
The Clark Krikava Family Fund
The Head Family Foundation
Tonkadale Greenhouse
Tyson Foods
UnitedHealth Group
Walser Foundation
Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota
Westminster Presbyterian Church — Minneapolis
Woodard & Curran Foundation
Xcel Energy Foundation
Yield Giving
Dakota County
Hennepin County
Minnesota Department of Education
Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Ramsey County
U.S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
U.S. Department of Labor
U.S. Department of the Treasury
USDA Forest Service
Washington County
$1,000+ (Tree Champions)
Brian Numainville
Donald Willeke
G. Rolf & Patricia Svendsen
Kirk & Ione Brown
Kirstin Stahl
Konrad Schmidt & Mary Stefansky
Larry & Beth Crosby
Lee & Liz Hickerson
Linda & Michael Kriel
Marlys Barry
Martha Greiner
Mary Hunstiger & Bill Blazar
Michael Huntington
Michael Menzel & Kathy Iverson
Michael Vennewitz
Nancy McCoy
Norm Champ
Peter D’Ascoli
Ronald & Joan Cornwell
Shawn Carpenter
Thomas Williams
$500 — $999
Barb & Keith Watschke
Charlie Kramer
Dana Beasley
James & Susan Lenfestey
James Johnson
Kathleen Hawes
Kyle White
Maria Finke
Pamela Endean
Rhea Rochon & Damien Rochon-Washington
Richard & Beverly Mast
Richard Neuman
Robert Beugen & Joanne Ferraro
Stephen & Suzanne Eide
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Carol Wichers
Casey Sprague
Catherine Lexau & David Hest
Cheryl Hager
Christine Warner
Connor Gleason
Craig Luedemann & Mary
Robischon
Cristina Curtis
Dale & Barbara Weick
Dale & Beth Raymakers
David & Lynn Isaacson
David & Nancy Erpestad
David & Tammy Paulson
David Hunter
Deborah & Mark Finnegan
Deborah & Wallace Johnson
Donald Klimesh
Donavan Brouwer
Dr. Arnulf Svendsen
F. John Halla & Christine Hansen
Genevieve Finseth
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Janet Arones
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Jeffrey & Patricia Stewart
Jenna RK Hutchinson
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Joe Houseman
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Karen Kraemer
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Kevin & Beth Dooley
Laura Nehl-Trueman
Leif & Karen Nestingen
Leslee Russell
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Lucas Richards
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Mary Ofstie
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Michael C. Kautzky
Michael Dronen
Michael Kelly
Michele Bevis & Steve Wardell
Mike Haubrich
Monica Strelnieks
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Allan Aman
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Donald McCormick
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John Eischens $99 and under
Denotes Board Member
Jon Hawes
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Vida Dam
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William Brauch
If we omitted or misspelled your name, please reach out to us: development@treetrust.org.
