Bolstering the Just Green Hub for Equitable Urban Greening

To make a significant impact in a community, urban greening programs must start small. By listening to the needs of community residents and forming a strong network with local partners, organizations can fine-tune their objectives to ensure they are responding to the most critical needs in the areas they serve.

Through an initial Bezos Earth Fund grant from the Justice40 Accelerator, The Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE), a Black-led environmental justice organization with strong ties across Atlanta’s communities of color, has developed a promising model for developing grassroots urban greening networks: the Just Green Hub (JGH).

Bringing together frontline community organizations and leaders, government agencies, and youth organizers, JGH has successfully piloted a method of accelerating the equitable distribution of green space throughout Atlanta’s urban green infrastructure.

Additional Earth Fund support for JGH will help scale the program for broad impact across the City of Atlanta working closely with three key Atlanta-based partners, Park Pride, ECO Action and West Atlanta Watershed Alliance. The present grant will fund professional development for local leaders in environmental justice and community land stewardship, efforts to activate stakeholders to advocate for equity in urban greening projects, and a pilot framework for expanding urban greening and climate resilience initiatives known as Just Communities with direct project investments led by community members.