From Interaction to Impact
- Team Canopy
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Since its inception in 2021, CanopyBloomington has made community engagement a priority—it is baked into its mission. Engagement most often happens one conversation at a time, and sometimes in the context of one neighborhood at a time. Regardless of what form this takes, or how planned or serendipitous these conversations begin, Canopy knows that connecting with people is the key to creating our impact.
Community engagement is not a single activity—it’s an ongoing commitment to building relationships, empowering volunteers, and partnering with neighborhoods to grow a healthier, greener Bloomington. Our engagement work is guided by clear goals, thoughtful planning, and a belief that strong communities grow best when people are meaningfully connected to the process.
Thanks to a 2024 grant funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Service Urban & Community Forestry Program through the Inflation Reduction Act, Canopy was able to expand its planting capacity and programming. The grant also had a community engagement aim, enabling Canopy to fund a part-time staff position to focus on just that.
Jon Vickers started with Canopy as our first, part-time community engagement specialist in October of 2024. Throughout 2025, he and Ava Hartman, Canopy's executive director, focused renewed energy on strategies and programming to grow Canopy's base and profile.
This work included tabling and sharing information at 24 public events, publishing 18 tree-related blogs, starting a YouTube channel with educational and promotional videos, growing our online community on Facebook and Instagram, and hosting 18 educational programs with the first session of a newly-launched book club, seven guided tree walks in Bloomington city parks, a Trees 101 class and a two-film series at IU Cinema.
These efforts helped Canopy grow our roster of registered volunteers to 719, with 300 of you actively contributing 1,400 hours last year. Thank you! Our team—which includes all of you who drive our plantings and mission—has grown tremendously!
We also made every attempt to fully-engage each of the seven neighborhoods we planted with this year. We attended neighborhood association meetings, hosted 5 neighborhood potlucks, and went door-to-door, visiting 1,507 households and speaking to 720 residents about trees. We tried to make each neighborhood planting festive, including food, remarks and almost always live music.
Jon Vickers will be stepping away as a paid employee and will continue to serve Canopy as a volunteer and board member. Canopy is now looking for a new Community Engagement Specialist candidate to build on the initiatives and systems in place from 2025 and carry that momentum forward.
A Thoughtful, Organized Approach
Community engagement begins behind the scenes. Our engagement work is guided by our 2026 Engagement SOP, which helps structure our calendar and weekly priorities, track progress, and adapt strategies to fit the neighborhoods we work with. By regularly meeting with Canopy's Executive Director and board leadership, we ensure our engagement efforts stay aligned with CanopyBloomington’s mission and programming goals.
This collaborative approach supports our core programs, including 3–4 neighborhood tree plantings each season, while allowing space for creativity, responsiveness, and growth. Our systems are all dynamic and always open to improvement.
Supporting and Growing Our Volunteers
Volunteers are the heart of CanopyBloomington. We work to make every volunteer experience welcoming, fun, and impactful—from first sign-up to planting day and beyond.
Our volunteer engagement includes:
Quarterly volunteer newsletters sharing opportunities, gratitude, and impact statistics
Event reminders, waivers, sign-in materials, and post-planting thank-you notes
Careful management of volunteer databases to track participation and hours contributed
Assuring that volunteer shifts are productive and valuable
By creating well-organized, rewarding volunteer experiences, we continue to grow a strong, inspired volunteer base that feels connected to both the mission and one another.
Partnering with Neighborhoods
Each neighborhood planting is rooted in collaboration. We develop custom engagement plans and timelines for every planting, working closely with neighborhood liaisons and local partners. These partnerships may include residents, neighborhood associations or HOAs, community organizations, and businesses. Our neighborhood engagement efforts include:
Canvassing with materials tailored to each neighborhood
Community meetings, potlucks, and planting-day celebrations
Coordinated logistics for planting days, including registration, food, music, and remarks
By engaging neighbors as partners rather than participants, we help ensure that trees are planted with care, pride, and long-term stewardship in mind.
Connecting with the Broader Community
Beyond plantings, Canopy stays connected to the wider community through education, storytelling, and visibility. We publish several blog posts each year, highlighting programs, people, and ideas that support Bloomington’s urban forest. We also invite guest contributors to help tell our story.
Additional community engagement includes:
Tabling at public events to share resources and invite new connections
Promoting and hosting tree walks, book clubs, presentations, and interviews
Creating and distributing press releases and promotional materials
Managing event calendars, registrations, staffing, and photography needs
Exploring creative outreach opportunities, from film discussions to public displays and digital content
Growing Together
Whether we’re planting trees, mentoring interns, supporting volunteers, or sharing stories, our engagement work is about more than logistics—it’s about relationships. By listening, collaborating, and showing up consistently, CanopyBloomington continues to engage, connect, and grow alongside the Bloomington community we serve.
Together, we’re cultivating not just trees, but a stronger, more connected community for years to come. If you are interested in Canopy's part-time Community Engagement Specialist position, you can download a .pdf of the position description below.
CanopyBloomington
CanopyBloomington is a social impact organization created to maximize Bloomington's tree canopy and sustainably manage Bloomington's urban forest for trees' many environmental, health, economic, and social benefits, with a focus on tree equity and community engagement. The staff, board and volunteers work year-round to plant and care for trees, improve air and water quality, and make neighborhoods healthier and more beautiful. But we can’t do it alone.
By donating to CanopyBloomington, you help fund tree-planting initiatives, educational programs, and community engagement efforts that make a lasting impact. Whether you contribute financially, volunteer for a planting event, or participate in our tree adoption programs, your involvement directly supports a greener, more pollinator-friendly Bloomington.