With support from enFocus, the City of South Bend received $1.87 million through the USDA Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry grant in September 2023. In managing this award, enFocus continues to partner with the City to help reach its goals to expand the Urban Tree Nursery Network, establish permanent plantings at schools, and bolster education and workforce development. To meet the goal of planting around 9,000 trees over five years as covered by this grant, our team is committed to learning firsthand the processes of planting and maintaining trees.

At enFocus, we specialize diving deep into organizational challenges and finding solutions to overcome obstacles. Recently, we have had an opportunity to dig-deep and design solutions for the regional manufacturer Skidmore, a Swan Group Company.

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is now. This wisdom rings true as we, enFocus, and representatives of the City of South Bend welcomed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 Administrator, Debra Shore. During her visit she met with the enFocus team to learn how we will use the recently announced $500,000 Environmental Justice Community Problem Solving (EJCPS) grant to advance sustainability initiatives in South Bend.

It is common practice to create long-term plans for businesses, but what does it look like when you strategically plan for a place you call home?