STAMFORD, Conn. (Oct. 9, 2018) – Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s iconic community improvement nonprofit organization, today announced the distribution of 19 grants totaling $100,000 from The UPS Foundation for the 2018 Keep America Beautiful/UPS Community Tree and Recovery Tree Planting Grants program. The grant recipients’ projects will result in more than 1,200 trees being planted in support of local tree-planting initiatives.

The Keep America Beautiful/UPS grant program, open exclusively to Keep America Beautiful community-based affiliates, provides grants for tree plantings that will have a greater likelihood of withstanding natural disasters in communities that have lost a significant number of trees because of a recent disaster. In addition, Keep America Beautiful helps connect UPS employees with local Keep America Beautiful affiliates to provide volunteer support to plant the trees and to fulfill other community improvement projects.

“With natural disasters ranging from hurricanes to flooding to wildfires there is a critical need to focus significant attention on strategic tree plantings that can add to a community’s resilience while replenishing the trees lost to these disasters,” said Helen Lowman, Keep America Beautiful’s president and CEO. “The UPS Foundation has been focused on this issue for years through its global tree-planting initiative. Keep America Beautiful is proud to be among the NGOs partnering with UPS to meet this fundamental global challenge.”

Since 2011, Keep America Beautiful and The UPS Foundation have worked together to plant more than 11,200 trees throughout the country. The collaboration with Keep America Beautiful is part of The UPS Foundation’s global tree-planting initiative intended to help sequester levels of carbon dioxide through strategic plantings; emphasize the importance of native tree planting; or produce fruit from fruit trees for local consumption.

“Since 2003, UPS is honored to have worked with Keep America Beautiful, an organization whose mission is to inspire and educate people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment,” said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation and chief diversity and inclusion officer at UPS. “The UPS Foundation also advocates for creating more resilient communities. Through our Global Forestry Initiative, we plan to fund the planting of 15 million trees by the end of 2020. Awarding these grants to Keep America affiliates helps us make a real impact on environmental issues.”

Here are some highlights of UPS Community Tree and Recovery Tree Planting Grant initiatives that will take place in 2018:

• Keep Cincinnati Beautiful: Vacant Lots: Occupied (VLO) is a comprehensive community-driven project which helps neighborhoods strategically restore and enhance vacant lots into socially, culturally and environmentally responsible spaces. Through the VLO project, Keep Cincinnati Beautiful has worked with community stakeholders and residents to identify two high-impact vacant lots, which will be transformed and revitalized into community assets.
• Keep Doña Ana County Beautiful: Keep Doña Ana County Beautiful in New Mexico will work in collaboration with UPS and Hatch Valley High School to support a school garden program. The program, which will involve faculty, staff, and students, provides several benefits including, increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables, increasing academic attentiveness, and the ability to source fresh foods for school meals.
• Metro Beautification & Environment Commission: Metro Beautification & Environment Commission in the City of Nashville, Tennessee, will plant trees to help reduce air and noise pollution emitted from the new installation of a 41,000-horsepower natural gas compressor in the Antioch community in Metropolitan Nashville.
• Keep Philadelphia Beautiful: Keep Philadelphia Beautiful, in partnership with the Philadelphia Orchard Project (POP), will distribute free fruit trees to community members to provide both beauty and bounty, as well as allow urban residents to produce healthy food in their own neighborhoods.

The UPS Community Tree and Recovery Tree Planting Grant Program is one element of The UPS Foundation’s commitment to fund the planting of “15 Million Trees By 2020” in urban and rural areas around the globe. Last year, the program funded the planting of more than 2.7 million trees, bringing the number of total trees planted to over 12.5 million – 84 percent to its goal. Additionally, this past year two new countries – Austria and Nigeria – were added to the program. UPS has now planted trees in 56 countries around the world.

About Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s iconic community improvement nonprofit organization, inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. Established in 1953, we strive to End Littering, Improve Recycling and Beautify America’s Communities. We believe everyone has a right to live in a clean, green and beautiful community, and shares a responsibility to contribute to that vision.

Behavior change – steeped in education, research and behavioral science – is the cornerstone of Keep America Beautiful. We empower generations of community stewards with volunteer programs, hands-on experiences, curricula, practical advice and other resources to deliver measurable environmental, economic and social benefits. The organization is driven by more than 600 state and local affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the support of corporate partners, social and civic service organizations, academia, municipalities and government officials. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Donate and take action at kab.org.

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