Neubauer Fellow Aliya Catanch-Bradley Spends Earth Day Planting Trees for George Floyd

Aliya Catanch-Bradley (2019 Neubauer Fellow), used Earth Day to launch the greening of her school community. Inspired to honor the life of George Flolyd and address climate disparity in what she describes as the school’s “concrete dominant” environment, Aliya began planting what soon will be 125 trees on the Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School campus and surrounding blocks.  

Under Aliya’s leadership, Bethune became a pilot school for the Middle School Career and Technical Ed Programming in Urban Agriculture and Health Related Services. Over the next two years, the school will continue working with the PA Horticulture Society and Dynergy to complete the planting project. Increasing the community’s tree canopy will reduce overall surface temperatures which run as much as four degrees higher than city averages. Research shows that urban green spaces can mitigate academic underachievement in urban schools, moderate air temperature, mitigate air pollution, lower human mortality relate, and generally improve quality of life.

Read more about the initiative here.