On May 5th, the Chicago Muslims Green Team (CMGT) organized Tree Ambassadors Training at Masjid Al Farooq in Calumet Heights neighborhood. This is the first training in 2023 and the third one organized by the CMGT since 2022. The first one was organized in Pilsen neighborhood, please click here to learn more about it.
The training is part of our Tree Ambassadors Program. It consisted of indoor and outdoor sessions. In the indoor session, trainers Rebecca Hunter and Caroline Williams led a discussion on the program and how to be a Tree Ambassador.
For the outdoor exercise, participants who majority were the Al Farooq Mosque community members formed three groups and walked around the neighborhood to mark spots to plant trees and request trees to the City using CHI311 App.
From this training, we all learned many lessons. For example, before the training, we the organizer needs to anticipate technical difficulties in using the App. At first, the password could not get through. After that, some participants experienced delay in submitting the requests. So far, only three requests are successfully submitted and two being approved by the City.
Some of training participants
One of the three groups of participants canvassing during the outdoor session of the training
Participants during the outdoor session taking a practice of marking spots and requesting trees via the CHI311 App
A participant took a practice of requesting tree using CHI311 App
A screenshot from an email sent by CHI311 App acknowledging our tree request
During the canvassing, we encountered multiple rejections to plant trees from residents despite many potential spots to plant trees in the neighborhood. They rejected the trees for various reasons, from insects, falling leaves, to pipe issues. Every issue is personal and needs to be considered and dealt with respect. That is why at the training we were equipped with the talking points to promote the benefits of trees provided by the City.
We also encountered a special request from homeowner, i.e., she would be interested in a tree if the city would have come out and removed the stump on the South Side of her home.
During and after the training, some questions that were asked include the type of trees, what about the parkway in front of an apartment with multiple residents, parkway with parking sign, should we still request the tree if the homeowner was not there?
In conclusion, the two hours training was not enough to equip our Tree Ambassadors with all the necessary materials and exercise. There is still continuing hard work ahead to be done to promote the benefits of trees to residents before, during, and after the training, via social media, canvassing, or community events.
Our trainer Rebecca Hunter wrote, “We did a little bit of door to door advocacy with some success, but yes it’s tough to persuade people to buy into all the good that trees can do. But the ambassadors we trained were fantastic and I’m sure will help spread the good word and help organize with a tree planting day.”
The training will be followed up with activities like Tree Walking, Community Tree Planting with the support from Openlands and other green space related events like Community Garden and neighborhood Green Expo in the Calumet Heights and other neighborhoods that will involve local leaders, officials, house of worships, and nonprofit organizations, inshaAllah.
Tree Ambassadors marking a spot and requesting a tree via the App after the training
A Tree Ambassador marking a spot and requesting a tree via the App after the training
Tree Ambassadors canvassing in the neighborhood
Tree Ambassadors marking spots and requesting trees via the App after the training
Training materials for each participant
Screenshots of our conversation about trees on WhatsApp social media
Neighborhoods with high percentage of tree canopy in the Chicago North compared to the low one in the South side where we are currently working at
The flyer for the 2023 Tree Ambassadors Training