Article Figures & Data
Figures
- Figure 1.
Location of the Urban Resources Initiative in New Haven, CT, USA. The city of New Haven is outlined by neighborhood and associated urban tree canopy cover (UTC) (O’Neil-Dunne and Pelletier 2009). Darker neighborhoods have relatively higher tree cover than those that are lighter colored.
- Figure 2.
Community Greenspace interns supervising volunteers on a street tree planting project (photo credit: Urban Resources Initiative, 2010).
- Figure 3.
GreenSkills supervisor leading high school crew members (a) and adult crew members (b) in street tree plantings in New Haven, CT, USA (photo credit: Urban Resources Initiative, 2016 and 2015 respectively).
Tables
- Table 1.
Overview of the desired outcomes and annual outputs from the Urban Resources Initiative’s two field-internship programs: Community Greenspace and GreenSkills (Urban Resources Initiative | About 2017).
Program Desired outcomes Annual outputs Community Greenspace Clinical learning opportunities for Yale students
“Healthy vibrant streetscapes and protected open spaces”
Community-driven natural resources management
Community leadership development
Civic engagement
Social cohesion7 urban forestry internships
50+ streetscape, vacant lot, or park improvement projects
50+ neighborhood groups working in community-driven natural resources managementGreenSkills Clinical learning opportunities for Yale students
Maintain or increase tree canopy cover in New Haven
Engage teens in local natural resource management and environmental literacy
Engage formerly incarcerated adults in natural resource management and environmental literacy14 urban forestry internships
500+ street trees planted
24+ teens employed
6+ formerly incarcerated adults employed - Table 2.
Top 10 skills and competencies acquired by interns while participating in one or more of Urban Resources Initiative’s (URI’s) field training programs, as identified by survey respondents (a). Top 10 skills and competencies designated as deficient or missing from URI’s field training programs, as identified by survey respondents (b).
a. Program strengths: skill/competency Theme Survey respondents Working as Part of a Team Professional Skills 75% Community Engagement Community Engagement 68% Project Management Professional Skills 63% Working with Diverse and/or Marginalized Communities Community Engagement 61% Social and Community Forestry Social Forestry 61% Working Independently Professional Skills 59% Collaborative Planning Planning, Design, and Aesthetics 57% Social/Political Ecology Environmental Sciences and Urban Ecology 55% Team Leadership Professional Skills 52% Tree Planting Arboriculture, Operations, and Urban Forest Management 48% b. Program weaknesses: skill/competency Theme Survey respondents Tree Diseases and Pest Management Arboriculture, Operations, and Urban Forest Management 27% Anti-Racism and Environmental Justice Social Forestry 23% Spatial Analysis (GIS) Planning, Design, Aesthetics 21% Urban Park Silviculture Arboriculture, Operations, and Urban Forest Management 18% Conflict Facilitation Community Engagement 18% Ecosystem Resiliency Environmental Sciences and Urban Ecology 18% Urban Forestry Master Planning Planning, Design, and Aesthetics 18% Biophysical Science Methods Environmental Sciences and Urban Ecology 16% Budget Planning Planning, Design, and Aesthetics 16% Integration of Research and Management Professional Skills 16% - Table 3.
Skills and competencies acquired by interns while participating in the Urban Resources Initiative’s field training programs, as identified and coded from semi-structured interviews. All skills and competencies listed in this table were identified by at least 2 interviewees and are ranked in order of prevalence in interviews, from highest to lowest. Skills/competencies marked with an (*) were identified by different interviewees as both a program strength and a program deficiency.
Community Greenspace GreenSkills Shared Strengths Collaborative Planning Techniques
Project Management
Invasive Species Control
Conflict Facilitation/Resolution
Volunteer Management
Engaging City Government Agencies
Anti-Racism and Environmental JusticeSupervising
Use of Arboriculture/Landscaping
Equipment
Youth Mentorship
Communicating Tree-Care and
Stewardship Best Practices to
Neighborhood Residents
Pruning
Tree Surveys, Inventory, Measurement*Community Engagement
Working as Part of a Team
Best Management Practices
Tree Planting
Troubleshooting and Adaptability
Working with Diverse and/or Marginalized
CommunitiesDeficiencies Tree Surveys, Inventory, Measurement*
Urban Park Silviculture
Team LeadershipNative Plant Communities and Tree ID - Table 4.
Open-form survey responses to the following questions (all skills and competencies listed in this table were identified by at least 2 survey respondents).
Question 1: Are there any skills/competencies that you think the Urban Resources Initiative (URI) did a particularly good job in helping you develop? If so, which ones? (Top 10)
Question 2: Are there any skills/competencies that you gained as a URI intern that have been particularly helpful for you in your career since? If so, which ones? (Top 10)
Question 3: Of the skills/competencies missing from your URI internship experience, are there any that have proven to be particularly important for you in your career since? If so, which ones?
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Community Engagement (32%) Community Engagement (25%) Other (7%) Landscape Design (7%) Other (13%) Anti-Racism and Environmental Justice (5%) Working with Diverse and/or Marginalized Communities (7%) Project Management (11%) Budget Planning (4%) Environmental Education Curriculum Implementation (7%) Working as Part of a Team (11%) Project Management (7%) Engaging Municipal Government Departments (9%) Working as Part of a Team (7%) Working with Diverse and/or Marginalized Communities (7%) Tree Planting (5%) Environmental Education Curriculum Implementation (7%) Urban Forestry Best Management Practices (5%) Engaging Municipal Government Departments (5%) Team Leadership (5%) Collaborative Planning (5%) Other (5%) Monitoring and Evaluation (5%)
Jump to section
- Article
- Abstract
- INTRODUCTION
- MATERIALS AND METHODS
- RESULTS
- DISCUSSION
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Appendix 1. Anonymous online survey administered to former Urban Resources Initiative (URI) interns in Spring 2018 via Google Forms.
- Appendix 2. Urban Issues: relevant excerpts. Urban Issues is URI’s semiannual newsletter and its archives provide a record of URI’s program history as well as documentation of student reflections from their urban forestry internships. Twenty-four Urban Issues articles published between fall 2001 and fall 2017 explicitly report on student learning outcomes. A selection of relevant excerpts is reprinted below.
- Footnotes
- LITERATURE CITED
- Figures & Data
- Info & Metrics
- References
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