Urban Resources Initiative (URI) is a not-for-profit university partnership whose mission is to foster community-based land stewardship, promote environmental education and advance the practice of urban forestry. URI works in three areas:

Community Forestry Extension
Environmental Education
Ecosystem Management and Planning

URI is dedicated to community participation in urban ecosystem management. A substantial body of learning suggests that sustainable urban ecosystem management depends upon the meaningful participation of local residents. Those who know local conditions and whose daily actions influence the health and quality of urban ecosystems must play a central role in policy, design and management. Sustainable natural resource management and conservation cannot be achieved by technical, scientific solutions alone. Conservation efforts, especially in urban areas where people represent a significant element of the ecosystem, must emphasize social revitalization alongside environmental restoration. Therefore, our approach stresses the integration of the biophysical sciences with the social sciences.

To reach its goals, URI's work is organized around several ongoing programs:

Community Greenspace

Community Greenspace provides material supplies, technical advice, and classroom-based and hands-on training delivered by URI staff and Yale graduate student interns to support inner city New Haven residents who wish to reclaim and then maintain their distressed urban neighborhoods. Since 1995, we have completed over 125 diverse urban restoration projects with an annual participation of 500+ New Haven residents, and planted 600+ trees (45+ different species) with an overall tree survival rate of 85%. As a result of ongoing affiliation with Community Greenspace, residents report heightened membership in civic and voluntary organizations, rejuvenated feelings of neighborhood ownership, and lasting visible improvements in their daily environment. As one participating resident says, “the project brought neighbors into contact with each other who don't normally interact. It brought about a cohesiveness that did not previously exist.”

One issue facing urban neighborhoods is the growing acreage of abandoned, derelict open spaces. These abandoned lands pose a current and future threat to the quality of life in our cities. These patches of urban land – each less than one acre but totaling hundreds of acres across a city – create great gaps in the landscape: sinkholes where environmental, economic and community potential is wasted. The issues concerning the assessment, restoration and maintenance of these lands are priority concerns.

Each summer, students work as community foresters as part of the Community Greenspace program. We provide Yale F&ES graduate students with supervised, clinical training to supplement their academic work. Professional training increasingly leans toward experiential, authentic learning where students gain real world practice in their field. At URI we have created a program where forestry students can grapple with the critical elements of environmental management while making a real contribution to the urban community we call home.

Open Spaces as Learning Places

Open Spaces as Learning Places teaches New Haven students about environmental stewardship through exploration of open space sites in their communities. The program targets 4th and 5th grade students from historically neglected neighborhoods for participation (primarily federally-designated Empowerment Zone neighborhoods and African-American and Latino students). These students are old enough to understand and appreciate the complex nature of local ecological systems and young enough to retain their sense of wonder that comes from investigating the world around them.

Ecosystem Management and Planning

URI staff work with city employees and Yale faculty to facilitate training workshops that teach professionals how to encourage people in urban communities to both define and participate in the conservation, education and restoration opportunities within the city's watershed.

Over the past decade, URI has created several community and urban forestry training programs. These programs – including natural resource managers training sessions (for municipal employees), a tree steward training program (for community leaders) and a street tree inventory training project (targeting local residents) – have created powerful learning experiences for the Yale F&ES students as well as the target audience. Students gain expertise in developing and implementing training programs across a broad spectrum of topics and audiences and work with and learn from experienced mentors from F&ES and local, state and federal forestry agencies.

To learn more about Urban Resources Initiative, click here.