By Arkansas Black Vitality

May 7, 2025— The Arkansas Black Mayors Association (ABMA) was recently awarded a $250,000 Urban & Community Forestry grant to plant 1,200 trees at community gathering spaces and public schools across five counties in the Arkansas Delta.

The grant was awarded by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Forestry Division and the USDA Forest Service to ABMA to complete the Arkansas Delta Community Forestry Grant project in Monroe, Phillips, Chicot, Desha and Lee Counties.

Local mayors from these counties will participate in the program by assisting with project coordination, implementation, and community engagement. The Arkansas Delta Community Forestry grant project aims to lower temperatures in targeted areas, reducing the impact of extreme heat on Arkansas residents while creating more accessible green spaces and providing shaded, healthy environments for community activities and outdoor learning.

“This grant will allow us to make a collective investment in the well-being of Arkansas Delta communities for generations to come,” said Frank Bateman, executive Director at ABMA. “The grant award will reduce our towns’ vulnerability to heat while also offering the opportunity to engage with residents on the ways urban forestry can improve their daily lives.”

Grant-writing support for project was provided by the Southern Economic Advancement Project (SEAP), which led the “Our Dollars, Our Dreams” campaign in Arkansas in 2024. That initiative provided ABMA and other Arkansas nonprofits with advisory services concerning federal grant and loan programs, new tax credits for clean energy projects, and strategies for constructing successful grant applications.

“The Arkansas Black Mayors Association has committed to protecting their neighbors from extreme heat all while strengthening partnerships among residents, local governments, schools and community organizations,” said SEAP Executive Director Sarah Beth Gehl. “With these new, sustained connections, Arkansas is on a strong path towards sustained engagement in urban forestry, a model that other Southern states should replicate.”

This tree-planting project will be completed through assistance from elected officials in participating counties, including:

• Mayor Butler of Eudora, AR (Chicot County)
• Mayor Eugene Boney of Dumas (Desha County)
• Mayor Ossie Thomas of Haynes (Lee County)
• Mayor Ora Stevens of Marianna (Lee County)
• Mayor Diane Cunningham of Clarendon (Monroe County)
• Mayor Clara Harston of Cotton Plant (Monroe County)
• Mayor Willie Stokes of Holly Grove (Monroe County)
• Mayor Lisa Hicks-Gilbert of Elaine (Phillips County)
• Mayor Christopher Franklin of Helena (Phillips County)
• County Judge Clark Hall of Helena (Phillips County)

Funding for this project is provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program, in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Forestry Division.