Putting down roots

On a sunny, crisp, fall day last October, a team from the Urban Resources Initiative (URI) GreenSkills program pulled up in front of a home in New Haven’s Westville neighborhood. Their two large trucks were loaded with equipment, and the team hopped out and got straight to work, marking where two crabapple trees would be planted and measuring the width of each tree’s root ball.

Two crew members dug broad and shallow holes while several others carefully removed the 12-foot trees from the truck. Once the crabapple trees were safely on the ground, William Tisdale and Miche Palmer ’17 M.E.M. located the root flare — where the trunk expands at the tree’s base and must remain partially visible after planting.

After the flares were identified, the crew carefully lowered the trees into the freshly dug holes, ensured both trees were straight, and removed the burlap covers from the rootballs. Then, the crew covered the rootballs with soil and compost, topped them off with mulch, and poured in five buckets (25 gallons) of water before staking and tying the trees. The crew, five strong, cleaned up, loaded the tools and equipment back onto the truck, and drove toward the next planting location.

GreenSkills Adult Apprentice Program

Palmer, the GreenSkills manager, and Tisdale, the field crew representative, coordinated this activity and provided direction to the team and much-needed “muscle” for this dig. They are full-time Yale staff members who work for URI and manage the GreenSkills Adult Apprentice Program, a green jobs initiative that employs adults who experience barriers to employment.

Tisdale removes burlap from the tree’s rootball before lowering it into the ground.

In addition to Palmer and Tisdale, the crew included William Lawrence, Lamar Farrell, and Rich McTague. Prince Alexander is also a member of the team, and all were referred through GreenSkills partnership organizations Emerge Connecticut and Believe in Me Empowerment Corporation.

How to get involved

Through the URI program, Lawrence, Farrell, and McTague gained temporary employment, on-the-job training, and learned about local ecology while making “New Haven beautiful, one tree at a time,” said Farrell. Just three months into his tenure with GreenSkills, Farrell decided to return to school for a nursing degree. “This has been a good experience and my first (tree-planting) landscaping job, but I think I can make an impact as a nurse,” he said.

“With this program, we want to give individuals who have employment barriers a stepping stone or boost toward a positive future,” said Palmer. “They gain marketable skills such as mentoring, teamwork, and general tree care. The work we do benefits the local community and the environment,” said Palmer.

A program is born

The GreenSkills Program began in 2007 when URI partnered with the New Haven Parks Department to help with a backlog of residents’ new street tree requests. URI saw an opportunity to offer teens green jobs. It expanded to include adults in 2010 when the demand for trees required the program to plant during the week and not just on Saturdays. URI’s GreenSkills youth planting teams are mentored by Yale student interns.

Palmer searches for the tree’s root flare.

“When we were out in the field planting, neighbors thanked us and talked about the need for local job creation, and from that, this program was born,” said Palmer. GreenSkills crews (210 adults and 396 high school students) have planted 9,200 trees for over 4,000 New Haven residents and businesses. URI has planted over 12,000 trees in New Haven since 1995 through all of its programs.

Making a difference while repairing neighborhoods

While providing the crew direction and joking with “Little Will” Lawrence about nicknames, “Will the Muscle” Tisdale is upfront about his past.

“I was in and out of prison for almost 19 years. After that, I was determined to turn my life around. EmergeCT gave me a chance, and I learned about construction work and, within months, became a supervisor,” Tisdale said. “I went on to work with URI, and they eventually hired me as a full-time staff member. They believed in me and saw something I didn’t see in myself,” said Tisdale, who now leads a six-person crew and travels to every corner of New Haven to plant trees.

“This is my way of giving back and repairing neighborhoods I hurt,” said Tisdale. “Everywhere I go, I see people who know me, remember my past, and are happy for me. What we are doing has an impact on the future. It’s hard work, but these trees will be here for a long time; hopefully even after we are gone.”