42 Scanlan et al: A University Model for Clinical Urban Forestry Education developing more skills directly related to arboricul- ture, operations, and urban forest management, whereas Community Greenspace interns emphasized becom- ing more proficient in project management, collabo- rative planning techniques, and volunteer management (Table 3). A review of Urban Issues, URI’s semiannual newsletter, tells a similar story. When describing the areas of greatest learning and growth experienced by URI Community Greenspace interns, the top five skills students and staff write about are: “community engagement,” “tree planting,” “social and community forestry techniques,” “environmental restoration,” and “working with diverse and/or marginalized commu- nities.” When writing about the GreenSkills program, newsletter authors focused on learning outcomes related to “tree planting,” “youth mentorship,” “super- vising,” “tree inventory,” and “pruning” (Appendix 2). Opportunities for Program Improvement in Clinical Education In general, interviewees and survey respondents were less likely to identify deficiencies in URI’s internship programs than they were to identify strengths (Tables 2, 3, and 4). The only two areas for program improve- ment referenced by more than one participant in the open-ended portion of the survey cited opportunities for more explicit anti-racism and environmental jus- tice training as well as support with program budget planning (Table 4). Across all methods of inquiry, the most commonly reported learning outcome gaps iden- tified by interns were, in order of frequency of men- tioned, “anti-racism and environmental justice,” “disease and pest management,” “spatial analysis (GIS),” “budget planning,” and “tree identification” (Tables 2, 3, and 4). DISCUSSION As urban areas grow and expand, so too will the need to manage the trees and green spaces within them (Colding and Barthel 2013; Andersson et al. 2014). These urban green spaces are increasingly being rec- ognized as unique components of a landscape where aspects of the biophysical and social environment are closely intertwined (Andresen and Johnson 1982; Pickett et al. 2001; Pickett et al. 2016). As such, effec- tive urban land management extends beyond technical skills and requires that urban land and forest resource managers specifically also be skilled in communication (Konijnendijk 2000), conflict management (Randrup and Konijnendijk 2004), and community engagement— especially with diverse communities (Konijnendijk ©2021 International Society of Arboriculture 2000; Vogt et al. 2016). These are skills most readily acquired through hands-on clinical training programs, but few programs exist for students in higher educa- tion (Newman et al. 2007). We therefore propose two models housed within the Urban Resources Initiative (URI) at Yale University as examples of university programs that provide training in both the technical and social aspects of urban forestry. Results from our mixed-methods approach confirm that alumni left their URI experience armed with a range of technical skills and social competencies. We attribute the suc- cess of URI’s programming in large part to its social forestry roots, its long-term investment in the city of New Haven, and its use of two distinct programs to develop unique skill sets for interns. While experience in community engagement is cited as frequently lacking in urban forestry education programs (Andresen and Williams 1975; Deneke 1978; Andresen and Johnson 1982), participants in URI’s GreenSkills and Greenspace programs consistently ranked it as one of most significant learning outcomes from their internship experiences (Tables 2, 4). While it may seem surprising that community engagement and related skills such as problem-solving and work- ing as a team ranked above skills related to actual tree planting and care (Table 2), this result speaks to URI’s overarching philosophy that trees serve more as a vehicle to engage with the community than the main focus of their programs. Emphasis instead is placed on “social learning” (Burch and Grove 1993; Schusler et al. 2003) and builds on principles from social and community forestry that rely heavily on the incorpo- ration of both local and technical knowledge as a way of overcoming environmental challenges (Kellert et al. 2000). In the Greenspace and GreenSkills programs, interns are trained to integrate their technical knowl- edge and skill sets with local knowledge and under- standing from New Haven residents to inform species selection for street trees or to direct park restoration projects. This exchange of knowledge is paramount to the success of the program, as it recognizes that decisions about what species of tree to plant are as much cultural decisions as they are ecological ones (Johnston 1985). By working closely with the community, interns hone their community engagement skills while also gaining experience in problem-solving and effective communication. “Community” in urban and nonurban settings rarely refers to a singular homogenous unit. Rather, individual communities more often reflect
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