Sustainable Landcare Training 2024

October 31, 2024

Several people weeding in a garden — Learning about native plants in a large rain garden

Edwin, a member of our Design+Build landcare crew, likes discussing plants. Our crew maintains rain gardens, native plantings and other green infrastructure practices in the Twin Cities Metro. When residents stop by with questions about plants, Edwin points out different species, especially potential weeds that may spread quickly.

“Just to be able to identify regular native species or be able to correct someone if, like, they want to know, but they don’t fully know, I can inform them…It’s good to hold that knowledge,” he said.

Much of Edwin’s plant knowledge is rooted in our Sustainable Landcare Training (SLC). Edwin completed the training in 2023, learning about native plants, best management practices (BMPs) in stormwater, and maintaining rain gardens, among other things.

What is Sustainable Landcare Training?

More and more, governments and large property owners are looking to rain gardens and other green infrastructure practices to manage stormwater and create greater environmental resilience. There is a growing need for the skills to maintain these, from plant-based stormwater practices in a schoolyard to native plantings in a commercial property’s green space. In Minneapolis, for example, former SLC trainees were hired to inspect boulevard rain gardens in the city.

Through SLC, we are helping to grow a green infrastructure workforce, with a focus on training young adults in communities impacted by environmental injustice. Trainees gain job-ready skills for a growing field. The training can also lead to further pathways in environmental work.

To make SLC more accessible, trainees receive stipends. They also receive support in other ways, including safe-work attire and transit stipends. Our current training sites, at Sabathani Community Center in South Minneapolis and the Regional Apprenticeship Training Center in North Minneapolis, are easy to reach by public transit.

People dressed in attire for outdoor work seated on bench seating in front of storefront listening intently to a speaker — Metro Blooms Design+Build staff work with trainees

Our Design+Build staff, experts in sustainable landscape design and maintenance, provide much of the landcare skills training, which includes:

Identifying native plants, weeds, and beneficial insects
Learning about the impact stormwater runoff has on our rivers and lakes, and how to redesign our landscapes to function more like nature
Gaining skills in inspecting and caring for rain gardens to make sure they’re working as designed
Exploring environmental justice and how historical land use and knowledge can inform sustainable landcare practices

“I really love the sustainable landcare training program because it helped me learn what I know and don’t know, and it gave me a nice foundation of best practices for stormwater management and gardening and rain gardens.” — Keegan, SLC ’24

“We actually were on the boulevards, and we actually were hands-on inspecting, we were hands-on touching plants, we were hands-on seeing the erosion —[we] were hands-on.” — Edwin, SLC ’23

Person installing rain barrel while two others watch — Community relations staff teach trainees how to install rain barrels

SLC can also be a launching pad for a sustainability-focused career. Trainees gain a greater understanding of the role that green spaces have in our well-being, how we can steward them, and the historical forces that have shaped the green spaces around us.

Our invited speakers offer real-world context, including people who work in relevant fields and those with lived experience. Members of our Community Relations team who grew up in North Minneapolis facilitate trainees’ discussion of environmental justice. This year, Julia Brokaw from the Xerces Society shared how to conduct a pollinator survey — as well as the limitations of using surveys for reaching communities most impacted by racial and environmental injustice. Tara Perron, Tanaǧidaŋ To Wiŋ, a Dakota and Ojibwe mother, shared Indigenous perspectives relating to land and water.

“One of the highlights of my summer was attending the SLC and meeting your team. Tara’s talk especially inspired me to pursue a greater impact in my community … After a summer spent in climate advocacy, organic gardening, removing invasive species, collecting native seeds, and planting trees, I’m now committed to a career focused on healing the natural world.” — Amud, SLC ‘24. SLC was a key part of Amud’s journey in sustainability last summer.

In 2024, we had three training cohorts, with 55 people participating in the training. Afterwards, through the City of Minneapolis, five trainees gained work experience inspecting and reporting on green infrastructure practices. We have hired trainees — Edwin among them — to work with us. And six trainees recently worked with us on a project maintaining and planting rain gardens in medians and boulevards in the Seward Neighborhood this fall.

People planting plants in a city median — After SLC, some trainees worked with us maintaining and planting rain gardens in Minneapolis.

Next steps for trainees

Feedback from trainees motivated us to think about how we could support them following training.

We piloted a mentorship program so trainees could have some support after the training. Several trainees were matched with mentors already working in the environmental field. Mentors and trainees organized their own meeting times to work on personal, educational and employment goals. Together, they worked on identifying goals, developing a network, writing their resumé, and practicing interviews.

Nick, a mentor, remembered exploring career directions with Ijahman, SLC ‘24.

“It’s been really great, and a two-way conversation, a two-way learning experience,” Nick said, “I’ve been in my world of ‘here’s how I developed and gone through my career, I can share that.’ He’s already got community networks. He’s already got things that fulfill his sense of purpose. So, how can my experience allow the environmental field to be part of his scope and possibilities while still being aligned with his purpose and vision?”

Ijahman had done a solar technology training program and wanted to combine his experiences in gardening, solar and landcare training. Nick did some research and learned about a field called agro-voltaics that encompasses solar energy and crops. A nearby farm was piloting agrovoltaics.The visit, including an informational interview with a staff member, was a learning experience for both.

“Nick, he connected the dots,” Ijahman said. “He connected every dot I needed…resume, moving forward, the job shadowing…”

What lies ahead

As our Sustainable Landcare Training grows, we continue to look for more ways to connect our trainees with jobs.

We’re working with the City of Minneapolis on more work opportunities. We’re also hopeful to connect trainees with opportunities through our Blue Thumb Partners. They include local governments and their agencies, nonprofits, native plant nurseries, design and build firms and other businesses. In the summer we held a networking event at RATC where trainees could meet partners.

And we plan to grow the program outside of Minneapolis.

For now, we close with this reflection from a recent trainee:

“It wasn’t just about learning. They [Metro Blooms] let us know they’re there for us outside of learning. Like whatever we needed help with, whatever we want to talk about, if we needed this or needed that, they would say ‘ok, look, let me see what I can do and I can get back to you,’ or ‘yes we can do this,’ or ‘no, we can’t do that, but we can do this,’ …, it was never a ‘no.’” — Jay, SLC ‘24

Watch this short video about an SLC trainee and mentor.

Learn more about the program on our Blue Thumb website.

— Aleli Balagtas, Metro Blooms Editor

Sustainable Landcare Training is supported by the City of Minneapolis, Mississippi Watershed Management Organization, Barr Engineering and individual donors.

We believe in economic justice. We compensate those that share their stories, including several people we interviewed for this blog post.