Newport has received a $1 million grant to plant trees in its West End.
The city is just one of four cities in Kentucky to receive funding for its project, called the Newport West Side Reforestation Project.
“This will change the face of our city,” said Newport Mayor Tom Guidugli Jr. during a press conference about the funding on August 22.
The grants come from the Inflation Reduction Act and are provided by the USDA Forest Service. Bridget Abernathy of Kentucky State Forestry said the grant program has approved 385 grant applications totaling $1 billion across the U.S.
Abernathy said the initiatives with the grants are aimed at mitigating extreme heat, combating climate change and improving access to nature in cities and towns where 85% of Americans live, learn and work. The grants are also designed to support various types of employment opportunities, job training and educational programs that help strengthen local communities and economies.
“Due to the Inflation Reduction Act, we will be investing $1 million in West Newport. In my view, this is the largest green investment in the history of the City of Newport, and this is a huge deal,” said Josh Tunning, a West Side Newport resident and executive director of ReNewport.
With the grant, the city plans to plant 1,000 trees over the next five years. Ed Davis, a Newport resident, said various organizations have planted about 600 trees over the past eight years.
“Our side of town hasn’t gotten a lot of attention over time, and you can see that in the treetops,” Davis said. “We’re so happy to be a part of this and that our neighborhood is bringing this attention to us.”
Newport residents can fill out an application to have trees brought to their homes. Davis said volunteers will do all the work of planting the trees.
Before Newport received funding, the city created a tree plan that included hiring arborist Cassandra Homan.
Homan said that early in her career she was asked what she thought was the most important issue in urban forestry, and her answer then and now was tree justice.
“Your zip code, income or skin color shouldn’t matter; you should have access to green space,” Homan said.
In her view, research shows that green spaces correlate with things like longer lives, lower cardiovascular and diabetes rates, fewer floods, and better and more successful business districts.
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