In the News
Hear Together: Richmond Tree Week
WNRN Hear Together
Lisa Aikins-Afful recorded a PSA about Richmond Tree Week at WNRN’s Richmond studio. Catch it on WNRN from October 9 through October 31, 2026.
“The cemetery was the only green space we had.” — Greening Southside Richmond
Imagine5
Imagine growing up with no green space anywhere in the vicinity. Imagine how that translates into a lower quality of life across your community – by design. Imagine being able to turn that around. Sheri Shannon, co-founder of Southside ReLeaf, shares her story.
Professor tracks Richmond's worst flood spots 'storm after storm'
WTVR CBS 6 News
A University of Richmond professor and Southside ReLeaf are tracking Richmond's most flood-prone areas, with a new $150,000 grant funding three more years of research and community outreach.
Virginia tree canopy virtually unchanged between 2018 and 2023
Radio IQ WVTF
This radio piece and article from Dave Cantor examines why Virginia’s tree canopy is not growing despite the benefits of increasing it. Southside ReLeaf’s co-founder, Sheri Shannon, provides insight into the challenges behind this lack of canopy growth across the state.
Report: Some Richmond 311 flood complaints take years to close
Axios Richmond
The University of Richmond analyzed more than 11,000 flood-related 311 tickets between June 2016 and October 2025 as part of our Go With the Flow flood mapping project. Sheri Shannon tells Axios that “residents have described a cycle of filing complaints, getting no response and eventually giving up.”
Richmond 311 flood calls show uneven reporting, response times
VPM
A review of Richmond flood-related 311 calls found that residents in some parts of town report issues less frequently and face much longer wait times for a response from the city.
Code Refresh isn’t a threat. The status quo is.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Southside ReLeaf co-founder Amy Wentz and HOME of Virginia Executive Director Thomas Okuda Fitzpatrick argue that the current zoning system — not Code Refresh — has contributed to unequal development patterns, rising housing costs, and displacement pressures in historically marginalized neighborhoods. They describe Code Refresh as an opportunity to expand housing choices, encourage walkable neighborhood amenities, establish clearer development standards, and support more balanced growth across Richmond, while incorporating new tree canopy requirements into future development.
Williams: Code Refresh must address redress and affordability
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Southside ReLeaf’s co-founder, Sheri Shannon, is quoted in Michael Paul Williams’ column, where he writes that Richmond’s long‑overdue Code Refresh must confront the city’s century‑old legacy of zoning‑driven racial inequity to ensure growth doesn’t repeat the harms that shaped its segregated landscape.
A1 Minute! April 23, 2026: Southside ReLeaf free tree giveaway
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The A1 Minute delivers three stories from the Richmond Times-Dispatch for April 23, including a preview of Southside ReLeaf’s Cool the City Free Tree Giveaway on April 25.
Richmond group giving away 200 trees to help ‘Cool the City’
CBS 6 WTVR
Amy Wentz talked with Brendan King from CBS 6 about the Cool the City Free Tree Giveaway and why the Cool the City coalition is working to plant more trees in Richmond’s hottest neighborhoods.
Hear Together: Go With the Flow
WNRN Hear Together
Syd Collier recorded a PSA about our Go with the Flow flood mapping initiative at WNRN’s Richmond studio. Catch it on WNRN from April 19 to June 6, 2026.
Richmond advocacy groups poll residents on key housing issues as city drafts ‘Code Refresh’
WRIC ABC 8News
A new poll shows Richmonders are feeling the housing squeeze as the city continues drafting its plans for “Code Refresh.” On Thursday, April 16, local housing advocacy coalition “Homes for All Our Neighborhoods,” hosted a press conference on how residents feel regarding key housing issues.
For some Richmonders, code refresh is a promise for a better future
The Richmonder
“Our zoning code is a piece of a larger picture,” said Shannon. And the code refresh “is not going to be the panacea for all of the existing inequities and ills that we have. It really is an all-of-the-above approach.”
Cool the City: Expanding Richmond’s Tree Canopy to Reduce Heat Disparities
CBS 6 Virginia This Morning
Amy Wentz joined Amy Lacey on Virginia This Morning to discuss the Cool the City campaign and why planting more trees is critical for combatting extreme heat in Richmond.
8News talks with Southside ReLeaf about ‘Cool the City’ campaign
WRIC ABC 8News
8News got a visit from a special guest with Southside ReLeaf on Monday to talk about their Cool the City campaign. 8News anchors Autumn Childress and Madison Moore were joined by Amy Wentz, a co-founder of the program, to talk about its mission.
Trees take root as Virginia’s frontline defense against urban heat
Virginia Mercury
As temperatures climb, some parts of the commonwealth are heating up faster than others — a result of too few trees and too little shade. Neighborhoods without tree canopy can be up to 15 degrees hotter than those with tree cover, and often those areas are home to communities of color and lower income households.
To address the legacy of redlining and underinvestment in these parts of Virginia localities, state and local groups are working to lower temperatures naturally by planting trees.
Canopies and communities: Solutions to combat urban heat island effects
Planet Forward
Richmond, Virginia, is home to the Hickory Hill Community Center. This center served as the only African American school during segregation and has been repurposed as a community center. Hickory Hill was pivotal in advancing racial justice in Richmond. To honor the center’s legacy of promoting equity and opportunity, Southside ReLeaf decided to launch a community climate justice initiative at the site.
We need homes with roots, not just roofs
Richmond Free Press
Too often, conversations about solutions pit housing against the environment, as if building affordable homes means cutting down the trees that make our neighborhoods livable. That’s a false choice. Virginia can and must do both: grow an affordable housing market while protecting the natural infrastructure that keeps communities healthy and resilient.
We need homes with roots, not just roofs
Virginia Mercury
If we choose growth that keeps people and trees rooted in the same soil, we can ensure every community has both the homes and the canopy it needs to thrive, write guest columnists Sheri Shannon and Kami Blatt of Southside ReLeaf.
Affordable housing and other nonprofits launch campaign in support of zoning code changes
The Richmonder
A coalition including many of Richmond’s most active affordable housing developers has launched a campaign in support of the city’s ongoing effort to overhaul its 1970s-era zoning code. Backers of the “Homes for All Our Neighbors” campaign include nonprofits project:HOMES, Richmond Metro Habitat for Humanity, the Better Housing Coalition and Maggie Walker Community Land Trust, all of whom are involved in constructing affordable units, as well as other nonprofits like Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME), the Partnership for Housing Affordability, Southside ReLeaf and RVA YIMBY.