Newport has received a $1 million grant for planting trees in its west end.
The city is just one of four in Kentucky to receive funding for its project—named the Newport West Side Reforestation Project.
“This is going to change the landscape of our city,” Newport Mayor Tom Guidugli Jr. said during a press conference about the grant on Aug. 22.
The grant money comes from the Inflation Reduction Act through the USDA Forest Service. Bridget Abernathy with Kentucky State Forestry said the grant program had 385 approved grant proposals, totaling $1 billion across the U.S.
Abernathy said the initiatives through the grants aim to mitigate extreme heat, address climate change, and improve access to nature in cities and towns, where 85% of Americans live, learn and work. The grants are also meant to support different kinds of employment opportunities, professional training and educational programming that help strengthen local communities and economies.
“This is through the Inflation Reduction Act that we will be investing $1 million in West Newport, which I believe is the largest green investment in the city of Newport’s history, which is a huge deal,” said Newport west side citizen and Executive Director of ReNewport Josh Tunning.
Through the grant, the city plans to have volunteers plant 1,000 trees over the next five years. Newport resident Ed Davis said that various organizations have planted roughly 600 trees over the last eight years.
“Our side of the city has been a side that has not gotten a lot of attention through the course of time, and it shows through the canopy,” Davis said. “We are so happy to be part of this and for our neighborhood to have this attention directed towards us.”
Newport residents can fill out an application to bring trees to their houses. Davis said volunteers will do all the work to plant the trees.
Leading up to Newport receiving the funding, it created a tree plan that included hiring arborist Cassandra Homan.
Homan said early in her career, she was asked a question about what she thought was the most important issue in urban forestry, and her answer then and now is tree equity.
“It shouldn’t matter what your zip code is, what your income is, or what the color of your skin is; you should be able to have access to green space,” Homan said.
She said the research shows that green space correlates to things like longer lives, reduced rates of cardiac disease and diabetes, less flooding, and better and more successful business districts.
