GreenSkills

The Urban Resources Initiative is a non-profit associated with the Yale Forestry School chaired by Jody Bush.  Colleen Murphy-Dunning is the executive director.  URI & the Parks dept established the Greenskills program in the fall of 2007.  Doreen Oboyski, from the Parks Department has been instrumental in helping to develop the Greenskills project.

Greenskills addresses three pressing needs in New Haven:
1.  The decline of New Haven's street tree canopy
2.  the under employment of New Haven's teenage youth
3.  the city's backlogue of requests for street trees and it's lack of funding

The GreenSkills project is a career development program for students from       Common Ground High School in New Haven and the Foundation School in Milford.  Yale Forestry School students supervise the high school students who are paid to plant street trees and document the current street tree canopy in New Haven.  Greenskills works in partnership with residents in neighborhoods, as well, so it is a win-win for everyone.
During the first season 6 students worked 180 hours planted 50 trees.  This past year 50 more trees were planted.  In  the Garden Club meeting on Monday April 6 the membership voted to give Greenskills $2,000.