A Million Trees, A Million Stories: Jason Stroman

This season at Friends of Trees, we will plant our millionth tree. Our millionth tree, like all of the trees and native shrubs we’ve planted, will be planted with the power of community volunteers. We’re telling their stories! Read more here.

Nature as a refuge and a career path for Black youth

When Jason was growing up in the suburbs of Portland, nature was his refuge.

“Growing up Black in the ‘80s, the suburbs were really racist,” Jason says. “I was harassed by police all the time. Teachers discounted me. We had a wooded area in our backyard, and the West Hills were still undeveloped. I would go outside to find peace and healing.”

This is a lesson that Jason Stroman has carried with him into his work at the Blueprint Foundation, which he helped found in 2015 to address large disparities in high school retention and graduation rates for Black students in Portland’s Public high schools. What began as a mentorship program has evolved to include a workforce training program, giving students experience and exposure to career paths in the environmental field.

“I know the healing properties of nature and I’ve seen kids not benefit from that, not have access to that.”

After Blueprint was founded, they were looking for partners that made sense and could provide hands-on learning opportunities for the kids.

“I noticed lots of Friends of Trees activity in North and Northeast Portland. It seemed like a perfect fit because the students could do work right where they live.”

One of Jason’s goals is to demystify environmental activities for Black youth. Not only has that community been disconnected from nature in many ways, communities of color are disproportionately impacted by climate change and lack of environmental resources.

“One way we can do that is to get kids out in the neighborhoods where they live. We can give them the chance to do tangible work where they can go back and see it over the years and know it’s having a real impact.”

Blueprint’s very first planting with Friends of Trees was in the historically Black Mississippi neighborhood.

“There are 15 trees by the Masonic Lodge on Mississippi and Fremont. For kids to be able to see them nine years later, to see something they did and own it, understand its benefits—that makes me really proud.”

Beyond engaging kids with trees and their benefits, the program is designed to show them career paths in the green sector, industries in which people of color have had low participation historically.

“It amazes kids when they realize they can actually get paid to do this for a living,” Jason says. “And they are all brilliant. You get a tool in some of their hands for instance, and they pick up how to use it like that.”

The community engagement model is another crucial piece for Blueprint’s partnership with Friends of Trees.

“A planting event might be the only time our students meet their neighbors. It creates community connections that wouldn’t happen organically.”

A favorite memory of Jason’s is a planting event in the King/Albina neighborhoods, which are historically Black but have since been gentrified.

“There are still elders who live there, but fewer young people,” Jason says.

Blueprint had about a dozen students in the neighborhood planting trees. An elderly Black man stopped his car to ask what they were doing.

“He hadn’t seen such a large group of young Black people in his neighborhood in a long time. He told us it gave him hope, not just for the kids, but for the community.”

Jason has been a board member for Friends of Trees for four years. He really believes in the value of nature-based learning, giving kids opportunities outside of the classroom, and safe and affirming exposure to new experiences. Blueprint’s goal is to replicate their success with urban forestry workforce training in other high-paying STEM fields that need increased representation.

As a mentor, Jason remembers the healing power of nature he felt as a kid himself, and it was always a tool of his to take a kid outside to help them find a moment of peace.

“It’s a dream come true to be able to provide that on a larger scale.”

Below you can watch a 2021 climate justice conversation between Jason and Friends of Trees Executive Director Yashar Vasef.

A Million Trees, A Million Stories is brought to you by our Presenting Partner, Portland General Electric.