Milwaukee schoolyards and streets will get more shade thanks to $12 million forestry grant

For now, the schoolyard at Samuel Clemens School in Milwaukee is a large slab of asphalt with a few basketball hoops in the corner. The only shade cover is provided by a row of trees near the fence — away from any play areas — and a metal structure without any seating.

Allyson Moore, the school support teacher, said students often cool off in the shaded areas before dashing back to games they're playing in the center of the asphalt. Recess time is limited, and they want to make the most of it despite the sometimes high temperatures.

However, recess is set to look very different for students at Clemens in fall 2025.

Thanks to a $12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Urban and Community Forestry Program to a group of applicants from Milwaukee, the school's yard will soon include a turf soccer field, outdoor classroom seating, raised garden beds, a GaGa Ball Pit and 45 stormwater trees to provide shade. About 43,100 square feet of asphalt will be replaced with synthetic grass, native plants, bioswales and walking paths.

Moore said she's looking forward to more structured play opportunities for her students through the soccer field and ball pit. She anticipates Clemens will "feel more like a school" outdoors.

USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment Homer Wilkes visited Clemens Thursday to see the grant's progress.

The $12 million awarded to Milwaukee is part of $1.5 billion the Urban and Community Forestry Program received from the Inflation Reduction Act. The grants aim to boost tree cover in urban areas, with a focus on underserved communities, Wilkes said.

"Milwaukee is one of the shining lights we have," Wilkes said, highlighting the city's efforts to plant trees that will provide shade within a few years.

Milwaukee Public Schools received $2.5 million of the $12 million grant to the group of Milwaukee applicants, according to Heather Dietzel, sustainability project manager with MPS. Clemens is part of a five-school cohort that is currently in the fundraising phase for schoolyard redevelopment.

"As the world warms, this is going to be a very hot place to be. We want to give shade and also places for kids to relax, places of respite, and then also be able to engage with native plants so they know what those look like," Dietzel said.

Greener schoolyards improve climate resilience, allowing teachers to move class outside under a tree on particularly hot days, she added. Research suggests green schoolyards are correlated with increased physical activity and improved focus .

"There's a mental health piece, as well as physical health," Wilkes said. "And there's going to be less scarred knees because they'll be playing on grass rather than falling on hard concrete."

Susan Plewa is a library media specialist at Gaenslen School, where construction on a green schoolyard was completed last year. She stocks her school library with books that can support climate education, but said physical green spaces enhance that learning.

"They see a physical connection. Their learning becomes real and concrete," she said. "[Climate education] doesn't want children to feel like this is such a heavy burden, but in my little world, what is something I can do to make a change, to make something better?"

During Thursday's visit, a group of summer camp students used digital thermometers to compare the temperature of unshaded asphalt, shaded asphalt and green space around the Clemens schoolyard.

"The students were intuitively learning about the impacts of green infrastructure, especially in a schoolyard, and they're using these science observation tools," said Justin Hegarty, executive director of Reflo, the organization designing green schoolyards for MPS.

Thirty-one Milwaukee public schools will have green schoolyards complete by the end of this summer. Ten more schools are in the fundraising and planning phase, including Clemens.

The remainder of the $12 million grant was split between the city of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, the county parks department and several nonprofit partners.

Randy Krouse, the forestry services manager for the city, said the grant money will go toward tree planting and maintenance in disadvantaged areas, which can help with stormwater retention, increasing property value, improving air quality and making neighborhoods more resistant to heat stress.

Part of the grant will also fund a workforce development program for arborists and community education on the benefits of tree canopy. Currently, the city of Milwaukee offers a 3.5-year arborist apprenticeship program that teaches skills including pruning, climbing and rescues in trees.

Current apprentices demonstrated their skills Thursday.

Hannah Novicki is a recent graduate of the apprenticeship program, which she said was an opportunity for her to spend more time outside rather than working a desk job.

"It's an apprenticeship so you get trained on everything, so it doesn't matter if it's not your background," she said.

The city will use part of the new USDA grant to fund a youth arborist apprenticeship program, available to high schoolers before their junior or senior years.

"What it does is not only gives them job skills, but also possibly gives them an opportunity to move into registered apprenticeship program like we have here in the city," Krouse said.

Felice Green helps lead the Branch Out Milwaukee Network , which is responsible for community education about tree canopies in Sherman Park. She is meeting with a board of nine residents to discuss what trees they want to see in their neighborhood. They're receiving $250,000 from the USDA grant for their work.

"People are excited to see the tree canopy expand," Green said. "These trees will outlive us."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee schoolyards and streets will get more shade thanks to $12 million forestry grant