This presentation was given by my M.S. student Christine Moskell at the MillionTreesNYC Research Symposium, March 2010, New York, NY.

1. Examining Motivations and Strategies for Engagement in Urban Forestry Shorna Broussard Allred, Ph.D Gretchen Ferenz Christine Moskell Véronique Lambert Caroline Tse Associate Professor Senior Extension Associate M.S. Candidate Extension Associate Extension Educator

2. Project Goal To work with residents and community organizations to develop, implement and evaluate an urban forestry community engagement model that will be used by organizations to reach and empower people to be active stewards of their community’s trees and natural resources. Photo Credit: CUCE-NYC Staff

3. Theoretical Framework Literature has emphasized outcomes of engagement Need to emphasize processes that lead to engagement outcomes (Kelly et al. 2000; Reed 2008) Community psychology in an urban forestry context (Dean and Bush 2007)

4. Pilot Site Selection Criteria Participatory planning process New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, MillionTreesNYC Tree canopy cover User and community activity Neighborhood demographics

5. Pilot Study Sites Jamaica, Queens Canarsie Park, Brooklyn Photo credit: www.panoramio.com/8796857 Photo credit: CUCE-NYC staff

6. Volunteer Steward Survey Interviewed participants (n=30) at the Fall 2009 MillionTreesNYC Volunteer Planting Day Methods: Two sites: Floyd Bennett Field (n=12) and Marine Park (n=18) in Brooklyn, NY Structured surveys during snack and water breaks Questions: Motivations for volunteering Perceived impacts of urban trees in the parks Perceived impacts of the trees in their own neighborhoods Brooklyn, New York

7. Participant residence, park visitation, past and future stewardship

8. Volunteer motivations

9. Perceived environmental impacts of trees in park and in own neighborhood

10. Perceived social impacts of trees in park and in own neighborhood

11. Urban Forestry Professionals Focus group interviews and discussion with urban forestry professionals (n=23) at the 2009 Partners in Community Forestry national conference Strategies and challenges for engagement Program evaluation indicators Methods: Individual surveys Group discussion Group surveys

12. “Provide information on benefits and services the people in the community can obtain from urban trees and urban forests.” “Convenient education about stewardship (pruning, tree bed gardening, etc).” “Create a sense of local control or decision-making ability/capacity.”

13. “Lack of understanding of the public as to what “urban forestry” is.” “Language, cultural and economic barriers exist and I am finding that at times I just have to do outreach and recruitment in places I know where support will be there instead of spending time in these communities that are tougher for us to build meaningful connections in.” “Pulling them away from busy lifestyles to do a community project on a Saturday when the weather is either too bad or too nice.”

14. Current Activities and Next Steps: Current activities: Conducting a literature review and analysis of current urban forestry programs Identifying local community organizations and resources Understanding neighborhood demographics Learning about Parks’ plans for tree planting activities Next steps: Neighborhood wide focus groups with community organizations and surveying of residents Implement and test an array of education strategies, activities and tools Evaluate and refine the model Disseminate the model and results to practitioners nationwide

15. Acknowledgements:Funding provided by the Ittleson Foundation

16. Questions?www.human-dimensions.org/engagementwww.nyc.cce.cornell.edu/UrbanEnvironment/Pages/SustComm.aspx Gretchen Ferenz, P.I. gsf4@cornell.edu Senior Extension Associate Véronique Lambert Extension Associate Caroline Tse Extension Educator Shorna Broussard Allred, Ph.D., P.I srb237@cornell.edu Associate Professor Christine Moskell csm94@cornell.edu M.S. Candidate

17. Literature Cited: Dean, J.H., Bush, R.A. 2007. A community psychology view of environmental organization processes. American Journal of Community Psychology. 40: 146 – 166. Kelly, J.G., Ryan, A.M., Altman, B.E., Stelzner, S.P. 2000. “Understanding and changing social systems: An ecological view.” In The Handbook of Community Psychology, edited by Julian Rappaport and Edward Seidman. 133 – 159. New York: Klewer Academic/Plenum Publishers. Reed, M.S. 2008. Stakeholder participation for environmental management: A literature review. Biological Conservation. 141: 2417 – 2431.