U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) was among those Wednesday celebrating a new push to create more green spaces in Newark. With the Biden administration offering $1 billion in grants as part of its “Investing in America” plan, environmental projects like tree-planting are being undertaken to expand urban communities’ access to nature, including in Newark.
“There are many places in our city that don’t have any trees and they don’t have any tree cover and children play outside still. And they breathe toxic air and they don’t have the natural defenses that can help protect and clean the air and the water. And so we’re looking forward to ameliorating that,” said Nicole Miller, chair of the Newark Green Team.
Eric Pennington, business administrator for the City of Newark, said, “Newark has been training local residents on green infrastructure for two years with more than 50 residents trained, and hundreds more who will soon be registered as future cohorts. Newark will have local residents positioned to plant the trees, maintain the green infrastructure projects and lead the companies that get the government contracts.”
