Tree Trust

Tree Trust's mission is to transform lives and landscapes by engaging people to build skills for meaningful careers, inspiring people to plant trees, and making our community a greener, healthier place to live.

Our vision is a thriving workforce living on a healthy planet.

Goal One: To counteract the invasive pest emerald ash borer we will plant 10,500 6-8 foot tall, well-established trees from a variety of species to promote the long-term health of the urban canopy in 2024.

Goal Two: Engage 400 participants in paid, hands-on training with direct connections to employers, opening pathways for participants to achieve sustainable employment and financial stability.

Working with an outside consultant, Tree Trust invested in our leadership team in early 2023 by completing an intensive training process which ensured all leaders are working toward a common goal. This included clarifying responsibilities, setting priorities, streamlining communication, resolving issues, and tracking critical metrics. After implementing the new process, the leadership team invested two full days to further clarify strategies to pursue the company vision and identify future organizational plans and objectives.

Since our founding in 1976, Tree Trust has constantly adapted to meet the needs of our community, while staying true to our mission and vision. There is currently an increasing focus on caring for our environment at a local and national level, whether through tree care, tree planting, or green industry workforce training for young people. In recent years, Tree Trust has expanded our partnerships with municipalities, governmental organizations, corporations, and foundations to distribute an increased number of trees at affordable prices to homeowners in cities throughout the Twin Cities metro. These new and existing partnerships also make it possible for Tree Trust to plant healthy trees from a diversity of species in key environmental justice areas through the metro. We have also adapted our programming to meet the increasing demand for workers in the green industry and skilled trades. This included hiring a new Director of Career Pathways to guide our growing programs, and a new Director of Development to facilitate ongoing community engagement. We continually evaluate our programming based on participant and staff feedback and input from external employer partners. Whenever possible, we incorporate suggestions to better serve our community. Most recently this included adjusting a program’s length to better meet participant needs and workforce demands, and we began supplying healthy snacks at work to help alleviate food barriers for participants.