Vibrant Communities - Trees Are the Key

These on-line resource and communications tools have been developed by the Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition (SUFC) as the culmination of a process that began with the release of Vibrant Cities & Urban Forests: A National Call to Action.

In brief, the goals of creating this toolkit are to:

• Provide common language for discussing urban forestry issues. Based on our research and interviews with urban forest advocates and others, we found that there is no “single message” that will resonate across the board. Trees and urban forests are highly localized issues. Therefore, our communications tools center around a “platform” of the 12 Vibrant Cities recommendations – which encompass the work you’re already doing – and strategies for using those recommendations to build on that work.
• Share communications products that can add value to any size organization. We have provided both “branded” and “unbranded” copies of most of these materials. The goal is to enable smaller organizations with limited resources to use our materials “off the shelf,” with little or no editing. Larger organizations can customize the materials in any way they choose. We have included both a PDF and an editable version of most pieces.
• Develop tools that can be used to broaden the circle of stakeholders advocating on behalf of urban forests. A common theme of our listening sessions was the need to create products that can deliver clear and compelling messages to individuals and organizations working on complementary issues. These include areas such as public health, economic development, environmental justice and others. To that end, we have developed talking points, slides and other materials that make the explicit connection between these issues and urban forest advocacy.

Vibrant Communities - Trees Are the Key