For more than 30 years, Our City Forest has been working to increase the number of trees in San Jose and Santa Clara County, providing free street trees to homeowners and staging planting events in parks, schools and other community spaces throughout the region. But that work is threatened now thanks to — you guessed it — budget cuts at the federal level.
Rhonda Berry, the urban forestry nonprofit’s founding president and CEO, said the group was informed less than two weeks ago that its $650,000 AmeriCorps grant was terminated, leaving its 26 fulltime service members without their $30,000 annual stipend. Berry said Our City Forest has continued to pay them from its savings so they can make rent and cover other essential needs. Its community nursery and training center on Spring Street in San Jose also has had to trim its hours to Saturdays only from 9 a.m. to noon.
Berry said the grant has been Our City Forest’s largest revenue source for the past 15 years, making up about a third of its funding and paying for more than half its workforce.
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Knowing that local governments are also facing budget challenges right now, Berry is doubtful they can help fill the gap and says they will need to turn to private sector donations from corporations, foundations and individuals. A targeted fundraising drive is being planned to replace as much of the $650,000 as possible, making it possible to keep a part-time crew on this year and next year to finish commitments to agencies.
“OCF has done so much good work with tens of thousands of trained volunteers, but we still require a trained work crew to train, coach, manage, and oversee them,” Berry said.
You can find out more about Our City Forest’s work and how to donate at www.ourcityforest.org.
HONORING A LEGEND: It’s not hard to sing the praises of Charlene Archibeque, the longtime professor emeritus and director of choral activities for San Jose State University. But you can imagine the SJSU Choirs and Orchestra — along with a special alumni choir — will do a top-notch job when they honor her during a concert May 10 at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose. To top it off, they’ll be joined by San Jose State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson to announce the Charlene Archibeque Endowed Professor of Choral Music, the first endowed professorship in the School of Music’s history.
That’s not the only thing that’ll make Saturday’s concert special, though: The choirs and orchestra also will be premiering “Nizkor: A Journey of Remembrance,” which was composed by SJSU School of Music Director Fred Cohen. He said the work adapts the traditional Catholic requiem to Jewish liturgical contexts by drawing on Jewish texts and mourning practices. He composed it in response to personal family losses and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The work is meant to transform individual mourning into a sanctified act of communal remembrance,” said Cohen, whose piece will be performed by the SJSU Choraliers, the Concert Choir and orchestra, along with soloists Hannah Cho, Courtney Miller, Christopher Bengochea and Philip Skinner.
The 2 p.m. concert also includes Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy,” and tickets are available at hammertheatre.com/sjsu-music-tickets.
NEW SPOT, MORE MUSIC: Cambrian Park Plaza is the new location this year for Saturday’s fourth annual Music in the Valley, the arts and community celebration presented by San Jose Vice Mayor Pam Foley and Good Samaritan Hospital. The event will continue to showcase the musical talents of middle school and high school students in the area, but this year it has opened up to include local professional bands, too.
The festivities will include activities like a rock-climbing wall, bounce houses and arts and crafts booths, as well as food trucks and a beer and wine garden. It runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 14406 Union Ave.
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