Oakland ~ Oakland ReLeaf needs volunteers to help put some green in the neighborhood.

The non-profit urban environmental organization is looking for folks who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty planting and maintaining trees on public sidewalks in low-income communities of West and East Oakland and Richmond that typically lack greenery.

ReLeaf works with local residents, youth groups and public and private agencies. The group boasts it has planted 8,500 trees on median strips and public sidewalks since its founding nearly five years ago.

Almost 1,000 Oakland ReLeaf volunteers participate in these plantings each year. The organization also hires young people from various local organizations for community service and works with public school gardening projects.

But a lot of work is still needed to make Oakland live up to its name.

"There's a whole lot of areas in poor neighborhoods that don't have a tree on the block," said Oakland ReLeaf Executive Director Kemba Shakur, noting the city has little funding for trees. Oakland ReLeaf, she added, is one of the few organizations in the city that plants trees in core urban areas.

Shakur, a former correctional officer at Soledad Prison, founded the organization in 1998 "as a response to areas that have very little greenery," she said. These neighborhoods, she noted, suffer from higher temperatures, less shade and greater rates of pollution-related diseases such as asthma.

She said the group, which chooses from 70 different tree species, is involved in a three-year project funded by CALFED, in which it will plant 600 trees a year to prevent storm water runoff and save an estimated 900 million gallons of contaminants from entering the bay. It also is planning a Richmond planting project, in which 200 trees are to be planted in one day.

With the shaky economy, project funding levels have slipped significantly, Shakur said. The number of youth participants has also decreased because youth agencies working in partnership with ReLeaf have had to downsize. So volunteers are most welcome.

To volunteer, call Oakland ReLeaf at 601-9062.

The Oakland Tribune: Cityside
Leanne McLaughlin, Managing Editor
(510) 208-6447
(510) 208-6477 Fax##
lmclaughlin@angnewspapers.com Email