By Naomi Kim-Yu
As an advocate for the Ville, a historically significant Black neighborhood in St. Louis, Aaron Williams knows a thing or two about what makes community partnerships work. “You don’t show up for a thing,” he says. “You show up for a relationship.”
That principle guided Forest ReLeaf’s first environmental justice initiative #TreetheVille in 2022, undertaken alongside community members and local organizations—like the nonprofit 4theVille, which Williams leads—to plant trees in the neighborhood. Historic redlining practices and decades of disinvestment had left the Ville with a declining canopy and a lack of green spaces. Today, the Ville’s Triangle Park, with its colorful murals and flourishing native plants, isn’t the only testament to #TreetheVille’s success. It’s also the fact that Forest ReLeaf’s relationships with local community partners have bloomed and grown over the past four years.
But getting here wasn’t without its hiccups. The story of #TreetheVille began in 2021, when the Arbor Day Foundation began to offer environmental justice grants for the first time—an unprecedented move in urban forestry. Forest ReLeaf applied for one of the grants, looking to get more involved in environmental justice work. Rebecca Hankins, Forest ReLeaf’s partnerships manager, says that the organization’s strong relationship with 4theVille “out the gate” helped cinch one of the ten offered grants.
The grant was intended to support the planting of trees on private property, and Forest ReLeaf’s goal was to plant 200 trees throughout the Ville and surrounding neighborhoods. There was a problem, though: not only did the Ville have a high vacancy rate, but the residents who did live in the area were often elderly and already contending with dead or dying trees in their yards. Planting a lot of new trees on private property didn’t quite align with the realities and desires of the community.
So Forest ReLeaf pivoted, turning to the Ville’s Triangle Park. Originally built in 2019 through a partnership between Northside Community Housing and Arbolope Studio to provide a community greenspace, Triangle Park had become overgrown and neglected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the trees planted in 2019 had died, so Forest ReLeaf planted twenty new native trees in the park.
“But we couldn’t just plant trees and ignore the garden beds,” Hankins says. The organization partnered with residents and community groups, like Fox Grove Property Management, to care for the park. Operation Brightside and local garden nurseries supplied various plants to revitalize the flower beds.
Today, Hankins knows many Ville residents in the area by name. #TreetheVille has thus not only planted trees and flowers, but it’s also grown relationships in the community.
“It’s always so rewarding,” Hankins says, “when residents drive by and honk and wave.”
“Imagine the kids in your congregation growing up learning all the native plants in your area and how to take care of them, and being able to experience the divine in nature,” says Christopher Grundy.
Since 1999, the Ferguson Volunteer Flower Department has been caring for two gardens in downtown Ferguson.
With Forest ReLeaf’s help, Park Commissioner Peg Crockett is adding more trees to Hunter Park, giving the local community more opportunities for play and leisure.
I am Elijah Belz, the Field Operations Coordinator for Forest ReLeaf. I am a certified arborist and the primary person in the field for Forest ReLeaf, maintaining roughly 1000 trees planted in the St. Louis City, and maintaining our equipment our equipment used to maintain our trees! This job is a catch-all position that carries different responsibilities during the different seasons. Fall and spring are our planting, tree delivery, and inventory season; winter is our pruning, mulching, and planning season; summer is our watering season where we lead a crew of interns getting into the green industry.
My background is bicycle repair! I was in that industry for almost a decade, including running a bicycle repair shop, before taking a job with a tree planting organization in Atlanta. From there I moved to an edible landscape company. I became certified as an arborist while working at Forest ReLeaf this February! Trees rock, bikes are cool too.
De’Nonna Jones graduated from Knox College in 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies, driven by a commitment to environmental justice and community-based conservation. Since then, she has gained hands-on experience working across a range of green spaces throughout the St. Louis region, focusing on the care, restoration, and accessibility of urban natural areas. She began her journey at Tower Grove Park, where she developed a deep appreciation for public green spaces as vital community resources, before moving into a stewardship role with the Missouri Botanical Garden in partnership with Great Rivers Greenway. She now serves as the Stewardship Crew Coordinator at Forest ReLeaf. De’Nonna is passionate about creating inclusive pathways into environmental work and empowering tree lovers and emerging conservationists to see themselves as stewards of their communities. Through her work, she strives to strengthen connections between people, trees, and places in urban environments.
After 17 years in the non-profit and public sector, Jess remains committed to mission-driven work that tackles the challenges facing our communities. Their career began with a year of service as an Americorps St. Louis Emergency Response team member, responding to natural disasters and performing conservation projects. That foundation of service led to roles supporting the arts, affordable housing, mental health, and grassroots housing advocacy in St. Louis. During this journey Jess has worked to center the value “nothing about us, without us.” They do their best to ensure that the voices of people who have been marginalized guide the strategy and execution of work that honors their lived experiences. When they aren’t working, Jess is out paddling, hiking, working in their garden, or building something.
