Program
Mission: The
"Trees Are My Friends" (TAMF) campaign was conceived by
Eagle Eye Institute of Somerville, Massachusetts as a vehicle to educate
urban people, especially people of color, about the value of city
trees and to encourage them to participate in tree care and planting
activities in their communities.
- Eagle Eye received
a two-year grant from the USDA Forest Service to produce the campaign.
In spring of 2000 the campaign was launched in Massachusetts.
In spring of 2001 it expanded nation-wide with a network of more
than twenty partners, including the Alliance for Community Trees,
National Tree Trust, TreeLink.org, National Arbor Day Foundation,
Tree Musketeers, Trees New York, L.A. TreePeople, TreesAtlanta,
Philadelphia Green, Chicago Openlands, and the DC Urban Forest
Council. Partners used TAMF materials to supplement their ordinary
outreach efforts to local communities.
- The campaign centers
around a public service announcement for TV that features people
of color sharing their concerns about and involvement with urban
trees. The PSA is based on the song "Trees are my friends,"
written by Eagle Eye Institute Director Anthony Sanchez. Over
one hundred stations in metropolitan Atlanta, Boston, Chicago,
Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. played
the PSA in 2001, reaching an estimated audience of twenty million
viewers.
- During the spring
2001 campaign the PSA directed viewers to the campaign hotline
and website, which offered contact information for tree-care organizations
in major metropolitan areas. The website (www.treesaremyfriends.org)
remains an excellent online resource, with information on trees
and tree-related organizations, an interactive section for youth,
and a database of tree-related Earth Day & Arbor Day events
and volunteer tree-care opportunities. By June of 2001 the website
had received over 100,000 hits, with around 10,000 visits by 6,000
individuals.
- A campaign poster
was produced and distributed to community organizations, schools
and libraries. It contains a list of "Ten Things Trees Do
For You & Ten Things You Can Do For Trees," and the words
to the campaign theme song. Both the poster (in miniature) and
the song lyrics may be downloaded from the campaign website.
- Public service announcement
videos and posters may still be purchased from Eagle Eye Institute
at cost, plus postage, while supplies last.
- Many individuals and
organizations have donated services to make the campaign possible,
including Heater Advertising for the PSA production, Graphic Printers
for the poster, Quincy Telemessaging for the hotline voice messaging
service, and Open Road for the website design. Click
here for complete credits
Funded by the USDA Forest
Service.
Copyright
2001 - 2005, Eagle Eye Institute. All rights reserved.
|
