The Healey-Driscoll Administration recently announced that Massachusetts will receive more than $22 million in funding from the USDA Forest Service's Urban and Community Forestry Program.

The generous funding will help expand access to trees and green spaces within the cities, with communities across the Commonwealth benefiting from this new sustainable initiative according to Massgov.

With the ambitious goal of planting over 15,000 trees in Springfield, funding an urban forestry fellowship in Lynn, and various initiatives in other cities such as Fall River, these projects seek to enhance public health and advance social inclusion and workforce development through community forests in areas like Chinatown, East Boston, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury.

As Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey remarked, this funding comes at a crucial time for the state, with environmental justice communities in dire need of these resources. “We are committed to continuing to partner with these municipalities as they put their federal money to work improving public health and increasing access to opportunity for the people of Massachusetts,” she said.