Saint Paul, Minnestoa
For more than 15 years, Tree Trust YouthBuild has served the Twin Cities metro area by helping students develop valuable career and leadership skills while transforming their community through residential home construction. Students receive hands-on training and earn a paycheck, all while working towards their high school diploma and an industry-recognized skilled trade credential.
In 2019, Tree Trust YouthBuild expanded their career pathways programming by launching a Pre-Apprentice Tree Care track. This track aims to help students accelerate their progress toward career goals, avoid debt, and earn competitive wages. Thanks to Tree Trust YouthBuild’s long-standing urban forestry partnerships, students receive on-the-job training and instruction by an experienced arborist in the high wage, in-demand field of tree care. Students earn industry recognized tree care credentials while they learn tree identification, climbing and pruning techniques, planting, safety, plant health care, and general tree maintenance.
The importance of this career pathway program is significant due to the forest pest emerald ash borer (EAB), which is devastating millions of urban ash trees throughout the Minneapolis and Saint Paul region. By identifying and removing trees with EAB, planting new trees, and maintaining healthy trees, students are making a real difference in their community by growing a vibrant and resilient urban forest, so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of trees for generations to come.
Tree Trust YouthBuild’s mission is to transform lives and landscapes by engaging people to build skills for meaningful careers, inspiring people to plant trees, and making our community a greener, healthier place to live.
Learn more about Tree Trust YouthBuild.
