Watts Rising: Greening Watts

This project has employed 15 local youth from Watts to plant 1,100 drought tolerant trees along streets, school campuses, and in parks. This project will greatly improve community access to the benefits of shade trees and open space. These improvements will improve air quality, provide habitat for wildlife, increase shade, increase public health benefits, provide educational and employment opportunities, and capture local polluted stormwater runoff. This project is part of a larger $35 million grant from the California Strategic Growth Council. This grant has over 15 partner organizations and is led by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) who requested NET be a part of this proposal due to our 15-year history in conducting successful greening projects on HACLA properties.

Project elements include:

• Planting and establishment of 500 trees in residential homes

• Planting and establishment of 500 street trees, encouraging green connections and reducing urban heat island affect

• Recruit and hire 15 local youth to plant and establish new trees

• Community driven outreach and engagement