restoration - liberation - conservation
Welcome a new force of nature to the Portland-Vancouver Metro Area, the Canopy Collective.
Led by ELSO Inc., the Collective brings together culturally-specific organizations working at the intersection of multicultural community resilience and environmental justice.
In the next five years, this bold new effort will expand the number of street trees in environmental justice neighborhoods, increase living-wage green jobs, and make new family connections to nearby nature throughout Portland and Vancouver.
What is the canopy collective?
The Portland-Vancouver Canopy Collective is a true collaboration between culturally-specific community-based organizations led by, and serving, Black, Indigenous, LatinE, and disabled communities in a grassroots effort centering on-the-ground canopy stewardship to fully resource frontline communities through:
The Collective was founded in 2023 so that community-led organizations already working to create equitable access to nearby nature experiences and green workforce development in the Portland-Vancouver area could leverage their individual programs and relationships alongside those of their partners and access transformational financial support usually inaccessible to small, community-based organizations.
The structure and strategy of the Canopy Collective is a reimagined way to address Ecological Impact Areas through community organizations who have the strong local relationships necessary to truly address inequality and climate change and bringing conservation solutions benefitting the very communities they serve and belong to.
Meet the portland-Vancouver Canopy Collective
Joining ELSO Inc. are well-established partners including:
- Blueprint Foundation
- Access Recreation
- I'm Hooked Inc.
- Lower Columbia Nature Network
- PSU's Indigenous Nations Studies
- Valadrian Creative & Consulting
Lending their support are government partners USDA Forest Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Urban Wildlife Conservation Program, City of Vancouver Urban Forestry and Climate Action Team, Clark County Public Works, and Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership.
TIMELINE & MILESTONES
Working together between our partner organizations and communities, the Canopy Collective will form three committees, focusing on collaborative education, stewardship, and communication, to collectively design, implement and accomplish our key project goals and reach our programmatic outcomes.
Healing habitats and the communities within.
“This is an incredible opportunity to create action around the needs we have heard directly from the community.
To build resilience in response to climate change, and to do so by activating young adults through job opportunities, education, and a solid network to support them in this work”
- Sprinavasa Brown, Co-Founder and Executive Director of ELSO Inc.
Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program.
ELSO Inc./Portland-Vancouver Canopy Collective is an equal opportunity provider.