Community Needs and Priority Areas
Determining your priorities as an organization is an important first step before applying for any grants.
When deciding if your organization should pursue a grant opportunity, ask the following questions:
- What does your community need?
- Is this grant opportunity in alignment with your existing mission?
- Do you have the capacity and resources to follow through on your commitments?
- Will the deliverables of the grant serve your needs as an organization or community?
- Who else needs to be involved for a stronger and more meaningful project? Including multiple personnel and other partners in your proposal can greatly enhance your capacity and project outcomes.
Most funders have specific goals they wish to accomplish through the funding, and most grants are offered to help the funders reach their strategic goals. Be sure to read the request for proposal closely and look at the funder’s strategic plan to determine what key goals and outcomes they are working to achieve. The funder will often reference these plans in their request for proposal.
Some important federal and state of Illinois plans to consider include:
USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Ten-Year Action Plan
The plan’s purpose is to expand awareness of the benefits that urban forests provide to communities throughout the nation and to increase investments in urban forest resources for the benefit of current and future generations.
Illinois Forest Action Plan
This statewide resource and strategy is meant to guide forestry efforts in Illinois.
Priority Areas in Our Urban Forest
The resources below can also help you determine your community’s specific needs for increasing tree canopy.
Municipal Canopy Summaries
These reports summarize the canopy cover, plantable space, and relative proportion of land use types for each municipality in the seven-county Chicago region (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties). They also compare those characteristics to similar communities and quantify some of the benefits these trees provide.
Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool
This government-sponsored mapping tool uses various environmental and economic factors to determine if a census tract is considered underserved or disadvantaged in the United States.
CRTI Priority Maps
This story map integrates canopy, temperature, air quality, and socio-economic vulnerability to determine priority areas in the Chicago region.
Tree Equity Score
This scoring index uses canopy, population density, income, health, and other socioeconomic factors to determine how a community’s tree equity compares to others around the United States.