A photo of newly planted trees lining a city street with houses and the setting sun in the background.
These trees were planted in Collinwood with funding from a Cleveland Tree Coalition grant. Credit: Cleveland Tree Coalition

The Cleveland Tree Coalition is accepting grant applications from groups that want to help plant and care for trees in the city in 2026.

Cleveland needs more trees — lots of them. The city’s tree canopy, the area covered by shade, is less than half the size it was in the 1950s and still shrinking. Dozens of organizations and agencies working to reverse the trend make up The Cleveland Tree Coalition.

Since 2023, the coalition has awarded $1.4 million in grants — ranging from $4,000 to $75,000 — for large and small projects. Those projects have put more than 2,100 trees in the ground in Cleveland. Most of the projects have been spearheaded by community development corporations and government agencies, but groups of neighbors can apply too.

“If you have a small-scale project on your block, we will try to work with you to get that done,” said Sara Tillie, executive director of the coalition.

Grants are available for a range of projects, as long as they help to build and maintain the city’s tree canopy. Those can include:

  • Plantings at businesses, churches, schools, public parks and vacant lots
  • Maintenance of mature trees
  • Residential tree giveaways

Tips for grant seekers

A 2025 grant winner, the Cleveland Division of Air Quality, used the funds to organize tree giveaways for homeowners in the Collinwood and Clark- Fulton neighborhoods.

Priya Govender, the division’s health outreach specialist, encouraged more organizations to participate.

“It’s something that is really well received,” she said, “and if more people took advantage of this, we could start to restore the tree canopy in the city.”

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Govender advised anyone thinking about applying to look for partners.

“There’s strength in numbers,” she said. “We have found that we are most effective when we partner with at least one other organization.”

The coalition is most interested in funding projects in the neighborhoods where the tree canopy is smallest. The American Forests Tree Equity Score Map can show the percentage of canopy in any part of the city.

Find more information about the grant program on the coalition’s website. Letters of intent are due by Nov. 26.

Associate Editor (he/him)
Important stories are hiding everywhere, and my favorite part of journalism has always been the collaboration, working with colleagues to find the patterns in the information we’re constantly gathering. I don’t care whose name appears in the byline; the work is its own reward. As Batman said to Commissioner Gordon in “The Dark Knight,” “I’m whatever Gotham needs me to be.”