Metro Blooms

Our Community Projects in 2022 included the following: - Partnering with communities for more resilient landscapes: Metro Blooms engaged residents in communities that have experienced environmental injustice to work on creating more resilient outdoor spaces. Metro Blooms worked with six affordable housing communities to incorporate clean-water practices and native planting for pollinators, and that centered community priorities. Residents were active decision-makers in their project. Metro Bloom hired residents as project stewards and to work alongside the Organization in planting and landcare. These projects made possible by public and private funding, including watershed districts, cities, and counties, foundations, property owners, and individual donations, and by partnering with deeply rooted community members and organizations. The project had 225 resident and community member participants, 8,451 square feet native plantings, and 842,620 gallons of stormwater runoff diverted annually. Blooming Boulevards in Minneapolis: this program transformed residents' boulevards in several North Minneapolis neighborhoods into beautiful raingardens featuring native pollinator-friendly plants. Community partners helped us recruit participants to receive a blooming boulevard. The project had 32 blooming boulevards, 9,625 square feet native plantings, and 444,000 gallons of stormwater runoff diverted annually.

Learning with Blue Thumb: Blue Thumb - Planting for Clean Water is Metro Blooms' education program and partnership of local government, landscape contractors, native plant nurseries and others committed to promote native plantings, raingardens, and shoreline plantings. Sustainable Landcare Training-growing a local workforce and creating job and education pathways in the environmental field. The 30-hour program covers stormwater basics, installing and caring for the green infrastructure, native plants and more. Metro Blooms had 73 participants in 2022. Many youth members of a All Nations Church took part in the landscape training in North Minneapolis. Afterwards, several participants became a paid crew for Metro Blooms, planting and maintaining area boulevard projects. DIY Workshops - Metro Blooms reached hundreds of DIYers with our Resilient Yards and Pollinator Lawn workshops. We also debuted a partnership with MN SEED for workshops on collective native seed and winter sowing. In 2022, 21 workshops were offered with 576 participants. Lawns to Legumes - Minnesotans received individual grants of up to $350 to plant native pollinator habitat at home. Blue Thumb managed the program for the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources. In 2022, 32 acres of native pollinator habitat created, 1,260 projects completed, and 1,958 pollinator-friendly trees and shrubs were planted.