A Tree Grows in Richmond: Southside Moves from Redlining to
Greening
A nonpro t-led project seeks to address environmental injustices and improve water quality with targeted tree planting.
by Julia Travers
March 11, 2021
Kenny Fletcher/CBF
Left: Southside, Richmond, Virginia, courtesy of Southside ReLeaf; Right: previous (2018) tree plantings led by
the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at Branch’s Baptist Church in Southside.
A
t the peak of a Virginia summer, the di erence between the sun and shade is stark. High
urban temperatures can be dangerous in the capital city of Richmond. Trees can provide
substantial cooling, pull pollution from air and water, and beautify neighborhoods. But in
Richmond and other U.S. cities, the racist housing policy of redlining has resulted in less tree
canopy for many neighborhoods with predominantly Black residents, making them now hotter
in the summer.
In lower-income areas where people of color live, environmental gentri cation is a concern.
Southside,
an urban
i
region
south of the
James River and within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, contains formerly redlined tracts.
Through the Greening Southside Project, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is spearheading
a multisector tree-planting initiative, hoping to cool the local climate, address longstanding
inequities, and reduce water pollution.
A National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant funds CBF’s two-year mission to engage locals to
plant hundreds of trees at parks, schools, churches, and residences. CBF previously worked on
similar initiatives in this area and now taps into a growing local environmental justice
movement through community partnerships.
In the 1930s, federal o
cials marked Black neighborhoods as “risky” red investments on maps,
e ectively blocking potential home buyers from receiving mortgages and other kinds of credit.
Underinvestment meant fewer trees and parks were protected or established, and more roads,
industrial sites, and paved surfaces were built—including in the economically distressed
Southside of Richmond, much of which continues to be characterized by vacant buildings and
asphalt.
1937 redlined map of Virginia: Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al.,
“Mapping Inequality,” American Panorama, ed. Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers, accessed Feb. 1, 2021,
https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining
A
2020 study by researchers from Richmond and Portland, Oregon, found formerly redlined
neighborhoods are up to twelve degrees warmer in the summer. These once-redlined tracts
are now more likely to be lower-income and have Black or Latinx residents, who also su er from
related health disparities.
“People who are not within an acceptable distance to [green] spaces are not given the same
opportunities to exercise, play, breath clean air, enjoy shade, grow food, and change their
scenery,” Southside ReLeaf co-founder and lifelong Southside resident Amy Wentz says.
Southside ReLeaf, which organizes community members to address local environmental
inequities, is partnering with CBF for Greening Southside. “Unfortunately, Southside residents
in certain communities su er greatly from heat-related illnesses at larger percentages than
other areas of the city,” Wentz says. They also “have higher cases of asthma, diabetes, obesity,
and other illnesses that lead to shorter life spans.”
In 2020, Wentz ran for Richmond City Council to represent the 8th District, where she lives. Her
platform aimed to tackle local high rates of health problems and evictions, and to improve food
access and youth and adult education
access, and youth and adult education.
Though she wasn’t elected, Wentz brought renewed public attention to Southside’s challenges
and promise. Along with Greening Southside, she is involved with two tourism platforms that
feature local Black culture: BLK RVA and the Virginia Black Restaurant Experience.
Richmond’s master plan, released in 2020,
strongly focuses on revitalizing Southside
neighborhoods through investments in
streetscapes (including new greenery),
transportation, commerce, and housing
improvements and expansions. The plan
references redlining and proposes to
increase tree cover and reduce pavement in
the hottest communities.
Southside ReLeaf
Image of Southside, 2021.
Along with Southside’s racially-motivated
lack of trees, the fact that the area lies
within the Chesapeake Bay's watershed was
a key motivation for CBF’s new plantings.
Some creeks there are polluted—due, in
part, to the extensive pavement and
resulting stormwater runo . These creeks
feed the James River and, in turn, the
Chesapeake Bay.
Richmond 300: A Guide for Growth
Trees can reduce Southside’s runo
and
erosion, bene ting the watershed—a
Neighborhood revitalization imagery for Southside.
potential win-win for the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation, which strives for clean water and environmental justice.
To zero in on Southside neighborhoods, CBF used the Richmond O
ce of Sustainability’s
Climate Equity Index map to identify tracts lacking tree canopy, and with more pavement and
heat vulnerability. Black and Latinx residents make up 86 percent of the population in the
identi ed areas.
A
long with cooling temperatures and improving air quality, trees and green spaces have been
proven to reduce stress and lower blood pressure. Jeremy Ho man, co-author of the
redlining study and chief scientist at Richmond’s Science Museum of Virginia, says, “Planting
and maintaining new trees is a long-term investment in generating natural air conditioning and
other bene ts for these neighborhoods.”
Ho man adds that shorter-term strategies are important, too, such as shade structures at bus
stops, pedestrian-only areas and “cultivating shaded public pocket parks” on unused land. And,
while tree plantings are not a cure-all for climate change—emissions reductions and other
approaches are also essential—research continually upholds our tall neighbor’s essential role in
cooling and saving the planet.
f
f
Trees are also increasingly recognized as a powerful instrument of environmental justice—
American Forests created a Tree Equity Score to guide localities, which also mentions redlining's
harmful legacy. But, like most simple solutions to complex struggles, planting trees is not a
complete remedy for environmental inequities, and advocates say some greening strategies are
more just and sustainable than others.
“There are a few ways that tree planting can be equitable, including ensuring that planning
follows community lead from the beginning, acknowledges history, integrates tree planting with
other investments, and accounts for future climate impacts,” says Marissa Ramirez, a senior
manager with the Natural Resource Defense Council’s (NRDC) Healthy People and Thriving
Communities Program, who is not involved in Greening Southside.
Wentz, of Southside ReLeaf, says her organization centers local voices, “[especially] voices of
the underserved and marginalized communities that often have change happen to them instead
of with them. Our neighbors know what they would like to see shaping around them for their
bene t, they just need organizations to listen to the already amazing ideas they have.” She says
CBF has sought to collaborate with community members. “That e ort does not go unnoticed by
our neighbors, and that intentionality is so necessary,” Wentz says.
For several years, CBF has worked with Southside communities to establish new trees, rain
gardens, and community gardens. Second Baptist Church in the Broad Rock neighborhood now
has a fruitful community garden, growing peas, okra, basil, tomatoes, and more. Previously, CBF
also o ered neighborhood walks and river rides to help residents better understand pollution
and local waterways, designated local environmental stewards, engaged neighbors in debris
removal and other restoration activities, and funded resident leadership training.
Kenny Fletcher/CBF
Previous (2018) tree plantings led by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at Branch’s Baptist Church in Southside,
Richmond, Virginia.
W
hile planning Greening Southside, CBF Director of Outreach and Advocacy Ann Jurczyk
reviewed resident input from the city’s master plan and conferred with Southside ReLeaf,
and Richmond Parks and Recreation. Another partner is Groundwork RVA, a nonpro t with
experience in community greening in Southside, which will engage youth in ongoing tree
maintenance. Richmond Parks and Recreation, and Richmond City Public Schools will also help
care for some trees.
CBF also collaborates with local churches, the Virginia Department of Forestry, and Friends of
Swansboro Park, among others. Jurczyk says this Southside Park Friends group “was started by
moms who live near and take their kids to the park, so as the park’s primary users, their voice is
a top priority.”
But Jurczyk
says the
says the
pandemic
and related
city
regulations
for inperson
Swansboro Playground and Park pre-tree planting. Image from Google Maps, accessed 2/20/2021
volunteering
are now
“limiting how much face to face contact we can have with community members.” The kicko
was a Zoom meeting instead of a potluck, and the rst plantings will take place at a reduced pace
at the Swansboro Playground on March 13.
Along with Southside ReLeaf, other local groups have emerged to support green equity in
Richmond, including RVA Thrives and its umbrella organization, Virginia Community Voice
(VACV). VACV, Southside ReLeaf, Groundwork RVA and others have held community
conversations about Southside priorities like jobs, transportation, greening and beauti cation,
some of which CBF also attended.
Jurczyk says members of Southside ReLeaf, like its other cofounder, Sheri Shannon, ensure
“there’s a local and known face to the grant among community members who don’t know me
personally.”
VACV is currently drafting a “Greening Master Plan” for Southside which, according to its
website, intends to ensure those impacted by racial inequities “are at the center of plans to
create a greener and more beautiful South Richmond.”
CBF l
t
ll b
t
ith VACV f
i
t
l
ti
A d if G
i
S
th id i
CBF plans to collaborate with VACV for upcoming tree plantings. And, if Greening Southside is
“wildly successful and [shows] deeper community engagement, improved water quality and a
healthier Southside,” Jurczyk would “love to see CBF apply for a second grant for 2023-2024 that
is directly driven by the [VACV master plan], assuming [it] identi es potential greening projects
that also improve water quality.”
I
n lower-income areas where people of color live, environmental gentri cation is a concern.
Community improvements can impact the housing market, leading local residents to be
priced out of their homes. The Progressive asked the city of Richmond how it will seek to avoid
gentri cation, which is already a local issue, and ensure a ordable housing near new green
spaces.
Sustainability Manager for Richmond’s O
ce of Sustainability Alicia Zatco
says the city
partners with community-based nonpro ts “to facilitate meaningful engagement with
residents who live near these projects,” including Southside ReLeaf and VACV. She says the city
follows an Equitable A ordable Housing Plan and has “an interdepartmental team that
coordinates the alignment of a ordable housing and new green spaces in an intentional way to
reduce inequities” by using tools like the Climate Equity Index (CBF also used this index to plan
Greening Southside).
Along with CBF, other major nonpro ts have their eye on Richmond’s canopy; American Forests
is partnering with TAZO Tea and singer SZA to launch the “TAZO Tree Corps.”
This endeavor aims to grow a paid tree planting workforce “to help combat climate change and
create new jobs in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities of color.” It will
launch in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and other U.S. cities in 2021, and branch into Richmond in
2022 It plans to partner with “grassroots tree groups in each area ” which could very well
2022. It plans to partner with grassroots tree groups in each area, which could very well
include Greening Southside partners like Southside ReLeaf, Groundwork RVA, and VACV.
Shannon of Southside ReLeaf, who previously worked with American Forests, said the Tree Corps
sounds like an “amazing opportunity… Planting more trees is only part of the solution. We
always need community buy-in, funding, and people-power to maintain those trees in the long
term. Developing a skilled workforce with members from Black and brown communities is
essential in this process.”
Tags
CLIMATE CRISIS / RACIAL JUSTICE / HOUSING FOR ALL / ENVIRONMENT / JULIA TRAVERS / HOUSING / RACISM / BLACK LIVES MATTER / ANTI-RACISM / ECONOMIC DISPARITY / CLIMATE JUSTICE / RACIAL EQUITY /
GREEN NEW DEAL / CLIMATE CHANGE / REDLINING / DISPATCHES / POVERTY / ENVIRONMENTALISM / BLACK HISTORY / HOUSING CRISIS / SUSTAINABILITY / COMMUNITY
Julia Travers
Julia Travers is a writer who often covers the environment, social justice movements, and the nonpro t sector. She has
written for National Public Radio, Earth Island Journal, YES! Magazine, EcoWatch, and Civil Eats, among other publications.
Read more by Julia Travers…
March 11, 2021
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