Grand Rapids is Paying Neighbors to Help Plant Trees and Encourage More Green Space

Getting people to spend a Saturday planting trees usually requires asking for volunteers. In parts of Grand Rapids, Michigan, however, organizers are trying something different: paying some neighbors for their time. And it might just be a move that has some traction behind it.

The event, known as Neighborwoods, is organized with Friends of Grand Rapids Parks and other community partners. Over 200 trees are expected to go into the Garfield Park neighborhood during Neighborwoods on Sept. 25 and 26. Friends of Grand Rapids Parks says volunteers do not need previous tree-planting experience.

Community Collaboration on Climate Change, one of the community partners involved in the initiative, confirmed in multiple Facebook posts that eligible residents can receive a stipend for participating.

In particular, organizers are giving special attention to neighborhoods that have been disproportionately affected by environmental issues and that have fewer trees than other parts of the city.

Grand Rapids is Trying to Close a Tree-Canopy Gap

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Grand Rapids has spent years working toward a goal of covering 40% of the city with tree canopy. In an April 2026 update, the City of Grand Rapids said coverage had reached 37%, which is up from 34.6% when its first canopy study was completed in 2008.

That greenery is distributed with great deliberation. The City of Grand Rapids says neighborhoods shaped by historic redlining continue to have fewer trees and green spaces, and thus leave residents more vulnerable to heat and flooding.

Trees address both problems. The city’s climate plan notes that denser tree canopies can reduce heat exposure, stormwater runoff, and flooding. Meanwhile, Friends of Grand Rapids Parks is concentrating planting efforts in neighborhoods with lower canopy coverage.

Friends of Grand Rapids Parks says its ArborFest and Neighborwoods programs have planted more than 4,000 trees since 2015.

Residents Are Part Of The Solution

The stipend introduces an appealing model that benefits multiple parties in multiple ways: communities out there that are benefiting from environmental work such as this can also be compensated for helping carry it out.

The broader Neighborwoods event remains open to community volunteers, with tree planting scheduled at Garfield Park. The program is supported through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program, according to Friends of Grand Rapids Parks.

Grand Rapids still has a few percentage points to go before reaching its 40% canopy target, and it is steadily closing that gap. And this particular approach is one way the community is hoping to correct course while also ensuring the neighborhoods doing the work share in the investment.