Growing CommuniTrees

On a sunny spring day, a group gathered in Austin, Texas, to beautify a community, restore land impacted by severe weather, support a healthy bat population, and for some, earn a day’s wages—all by planting trees. The group was made up of local corporate and nonprofit volunteers, including members of BCI, TreeFolks, Mobile Loaves & Fishes, and neighbors living in Community First! Village where the trees were planted. The trees (as well as a few shrubs) were native species selected to support the insect populations eaten by local bats and provide roosting habitat.

Created by Mobile Loaves & Fishes, Community First! Village is a planned neighborhood that provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for people who are coming out of chronic homelessness. After starting out small, the Village has grown to 170 acres, and it just celebrated its 10-year anniversary. It hopes to house about 1,900 people over the next eight to 10 years.

“What Community First! does is absolutely amazing,” says Erin Cord, BCI’s Austin-based Community Engagement Manager. “I get emotional every time I go there.”

As soon as Cord learned about Community First! and their work, she knew she wanted to find a way for the organizations to work together. “I reached out and they were really excited, I think because bats are such an iconic part of Austin,” she says. “They were already using a lot of native plants in their landscaping work.”

Katia Grenaille, a Volunteer Specialist at Mobile Loaves & Fishes, says the partnership felt natural to her and the community’s neighbors, since a lot of the work that goes into maintaining, improving, and expanding the Village involves ecological restoration.

“We’re trying to be a property with all native plants and trees,” she says. “It really is transforming from a construction site into a nice native space.”

Many of Community First! Village’s neighbors work on-site to earn a dignified income as part of the Village’s Community Works program, and they were very involved with planting.

Led by TreeFolks staff and volunteer planting supervisors, the group planted upwards of 100 trees and plants that are native to the area. BCI also worked with TreeFolks to create a flier entitled “Bats need trees!” that offers information about how native trees like oaks, pecans, and elms support Texas’ bat populations.

Future collaborations are in the works, and the Village has already started offering Bat Walks.

“We want to support communities as much as we can,” Cord says. “There are so many intersections between our mission and other nonprofits’ missions, and a lot of it just revolves around pride in community and the benefits of being outside connecting with nature. No matter where you work or what you do, that’s something we all agree is important.”