We are incredibly thankful to the Arbor Day Foundation for their generous grant in support of DUG’s “dig deeper” initiative. This 3-year grant aims to support DUG’s food forest initiative in order to increase community access to fresh and healthy food.
There are six goals within this grant:
- Increase the production of fresh foods in limited-resource communities
- Decrease barriers to fresh food access
- Increase gardening skills for the community
- Provide access to 9 food forests in the Denver metro area
- Train 18 community members as Tree Keepers, or stewards of the food forest spaces
- Provide fresh and healthy food within 3 to 5 years
Primary new construction of food forests is reflective of sites in the Denver metro area with historically underserved populations and spaces in need of additional tree cover. The selection process prioritizes environmental justice, and site/area selection was supported by the use of the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), which highlights areas that are overburdened and underserved.
Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program in partnership with Denver Urban Gardens providing the Arbor Day Foundation. USDA Forest Service and the Arbor Day Foundation are equal opportunity providers.
