Community Cool Down

Are you a teen who wants to:

• Do something to improve the environment in Los Angeles?
• Work on a fun project with your friends or youth group?
• Take on a leadership role in your community?

If so, TreePeople’s Community Cool Down program is for you! Community Cool Down assists teen leaders – and their friends or youth groups – to make a difference to the future of L.A. by organizing tree plantings in their communities. 

If you participate, TreePeople will work with you and your group to explore ecosystem problems in our city. Then we'll support you to help solve those problems by spreading the healing power of trees.

Through the program, up to 10 trees are planted, depending on the number of youth involved, and the specifics of the site.

Six steps to a cooler community

Here's how the Community Cool Down program works:

1. Register

Upon registration, you will receive a booklet of preparation activities and have a TreePeople representative assigned to work with your group. At various steps in the process, TreePeople supports your project by conducting a site visit, providing tools and supplies for a tree planting event, helping to establish a tree care plan, and more. To register contact Candice Dickens-Russell at crussell@treepeople.org or (818)623-4876. 

2. Plan your program

Look through the materials and familiarize yourself with the different steps of the program. Make sure that key stakeholders are on board with the project to ensure that trees are welcomed on your site, and support for long-term care of them is ensured.

3. Make a timeline

Working with your TreePeople representative, determine when each step of the process will take place. This includes setting up a date for the site visit, tree planting, and follow-up. 

4. Begin the process

Based on the timeline you created, and when the scheduled visits are with your TreePeople representative, begin the process starting with Step 1: Cool Reasons for Trees. All the resource materials that you need are supplied.

5. Plant trees!

You will work with your TreePeople representative to plan the scope of your tree planting event. Depending on the number of trees and where they will be planted, will determine what will be necessary for a successful tree planting.

6. Final report and tree care

Once the tree planting is complete, your TreePeople representative will come share the steps for taking care of the trees and maintaining the watering schedule. Once the final report is complete, students will receive acknowledgement of their project.

Additional resources will be included in your instruction, such as information on “green-collar” jobs, how to conduct a community tree survey and more.

Contact Candice Russell at crussell@treepeople.org or (818)623-4876 for more information.