Hi there, Park People! Welcome to our new blog. We hope you enjoy all the things we'll share here: announcements and insights into our activities, community highlights, tree care tips, coverage of tree equity and other important topics, answers to your burning questions, and more! With wildfires ranging, temperatures rising, and worrisome droughts, The Park People wants to provide our community with information and tools to address these issues. Now more than ever, it is so important to share knowledge and expertise about our urban forests, parks, and all the incredible benefits outdoor spaces bring to our city. Did you know that trees filter air pollution, act as a carbon sink, store water, provide shade to protect against extreme heat, and more? Or that parks are shown to improve both the physical and mental health of nearby residents? AND maintaining parks and trees provides stable, high-quality careers? Parks and trees truly are the answer to our most pressing issues. And we want to share them, along with tips and tricks on how to steward them, with you. We hope you'll join us!

If you have any blog post suggestions that will help us steward our urban ecosystem to create a healthier, more resilient future, please reach out at communications@TheParkPeople.org.

There is a well-documented worker shortage across the country. As hiring demands grow towards pre-pandemic numbers, we’re still seeing inadequate numbers of workers. Many experts note that wage stagnation over the last several decades contributes to this shortage. To make matters more complicated, the number of skilled workers does not match the demand for the crucial, innovative work across industries. There are not enough resources available to help folks transition to better paying, more stable careers. This is also affecting Denver's urban forest.

Our new program Treeforce, laucnhing August 2022, will address these issues.

Read this blog post to learn how we will help fill the worker shortage throughout the greater Denver area, while connecting community members facing barriers to employment to meaningful career paths in urban forestry

The Park People could not accomplish its incredible work planting trees, improving parks, and greening our city without the support of local champions. Shawn Snelgrove is one of those generous, thoughtful Denverites. She was involved in our program, Community Forester, and quickly became a part of the crew. Seeing the need to steward our urban forest, she decided to use her time and talents to support our organization in more ways than one. 

Not only is she a Denver Community Forester, but Shawn is the Founder and President of Brainstorming A la Mode, Inc. Using her coaching and consulting capabilities, she recently held a training on public speaking, and engagement for facilitators with staff members of The Park People and the Office of the City Forester who teach the Community Forester workshops. It was truly a worthwhile and incredibly helpful experience.

We met up with her and asked her some questions regarding her work with The Park People.