TCH Planting and Stewardship Initiative

This year, we are working with Toronto Community Housing (TCH) tenants to green their communities with almost 100 trees and over 200 shrubs. Meet one of the TCH tenants we have been lucky to work with: Annisha Stewart. Annisha is on a mission to green her community! She’s participated in multiple LEAF programs over the past two years, including the Tree Tenders training course this spring. Our TCH Stewardship Assistant, Nuradin, had the opportunity to interview Annisha about her experience with LEAF and the work she does for her community.

This year, we are working with Toronto Community Housing (TCH) tenants to green their communities with almost 100 trees and over 200 shrubs. Meet one of the TCH tenants we’ve been lucky to work with: Len Mirander. Len contributes a tremendous amount of time caring for his community, from protecting the trees provided by LEAF to tending to the community garden. Our TCH Stewardship Assistant, Ruiqi, had the pleasure of speaking with Len about his community work.

This year, we are working with Toronto Community Housing (TCH) tenants to green their communities with almost 100 trees and over 200 shrubs. Meet one of the TCH tenants we've been so lucky to work with: Aisha Chohan. Aisha participated in the Young Urban Forest Leaders (YUFL) program in 2020. Now, in 2021 she is engaging her neighbours to beautify their greenspace with native shrubs and fostering a sense of camaraderie in her community. Hoping to inspire others, she shares her experience!

As part of the Toronto Community Housing (TCH) Planting and Stewardship Initiative, funded in part by the City of Toronto through an Urban Forestry Grant, Janice Lam, LEAF Program Assistant, and I delivered 247 native shrubs to 15 TCH properties in late September. Before these fun-filled delivery days, we hosted a virtual shrub care training session for TCH tenants. The tenants, both new and seasoned urban forest stewards, will be helping native woody plants survive and thrive on TCH properties!

As autumn sets in, LEAF is wrapping up its third year of the Toronto Community Housing (TCH) Planting and Stewardship Initiative which is funded in part by the City of Toronto's Urban Forestry Grant. And, I am wrapping up my contract as Stewardship Assistant! I wanted to take this moment to share my experience monitoring the trees planted in 2018 and 2019, connecting with TCH tenants and learning about the value of planting trees in low-income communities.