Mayor Johnson, Community Leaders Plant Trees in West Woodlawn to Build a Greener Chicago

Mayor Brandon Johnson joined residents and community leaders in West Woodlawn to celebrate Arbor Day with a tree-planting event that underscored a bigger mission: expanding Chicago’s urban canopy where it’s needed most. Hosted by Blacks in Green, an environmental and economic justice nonprofit, the event highlighted the City’s Our Roots Chicago program — an ambitious effort to plant trees in South and West Side neighborhoods long deprived of green space. “We are planting trees in the neighborhoods in Chicago that need them most,” Mayor Johnson said. “With the Our Roots program, we’re taking significant steps to ensure that every Chicagoan can enjoy the beauty and benefits of trees.” The mayor also gave a nod to city workers who have trimmed hundreds of thousands of trees while planting tens of thousands more, calling them critical to making Chicago “greener and, somehow, even more beautiful.” For neighborhoods that have historically lacked tree coverage, the stakes are high. Without trees, these communities face greater risks from extreme heat and flooding, environmental burdens that threaten health and housing stability. Since launching in 2022, Our Roots Chicago has made notable progress. City departments, including Streets and Sanitation (DSS) and Transportation (CDOT), have planted more than...