BSC Group was honored to attend the American Planning Association Massachusetts Chapter (APA-MA) Award Luncheon, where our project, Building Community Resilience Through Planting Miyawaki Forests in Worcester, received the 2025 APA-MA Sustainability & Resiliency Award.
In 2024, our team designed and planted two Miyawaki Forests in Worcester, Massachusetts to support the City’s goal of strengthening climate resilience to extreme heat. These dense, fast-growing pocket forests also help improve air quality, increase biodiversity, and build community engagement and resilience. Both planting sites are located in designated Environmental Justice communities with high heat vulnerability.
The City of Worcester selected BSC Group to lead the project, partnering with Biodiversity for a Livable Climate (Bio4Climate), a regional expert in Miyawaki Forest plantings, and Guillermo Creamer Jr., who served as community liaison.
The project was funded in large part through the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Action Grant, which supports Massachusetts cities and towns in planning and implementing climate resilience initiatives.
We are grateful to APA-MA for this recognition, and to our partners and community volunteers who helped bring these forests to life.