Humans of East Palo Alto

Presentation created by Canopy's Teen Urban Foresters in the spring of 2023: Adrian Maciel, Angel Fernandez, Keiki Leni, Paco Francisco, Martin Gomez, Jeremy Lopez, Chris Kaage, Joshua Bustos, Jojo Flores, Bethzy Garcia, Bri Edwards, Edgar Bustos, and Jose Yopihua.
Learn more about this youth leadership program developing the next generation of environmental stewards at canopy.org/tuf.
Background:
In the summer of 2021, the Teen Urban Foresters (TUFs) began hosting community engagements in East Palo Alto, asking residents to complete a brief survey. One of the survey questions showed that many residents had never heard of Canopy before. Since then, the TUFs have held community listening events to increase visibility. The TUFs have worked diligently to include community voices and to collect feedback to improve Canopy’s work.
To increase visibility, the TUFs will highlight the Sound Wall Planting 2007. The Sound Wall Planting helped kick off the tree initiative for East Palo Alto; before this, Canopy’s service areas only included Palo Alto. Community members Dave Muffly, Catherine Martineau, and the City of East Palo Alto were all involved in the process. The planting symbolized Canopy’s goal to close the green gap and provide residents living along the freeway wall with all the benefits of trees, including noise reduction, shade, and cleaner air.