At the height of the recession, a DC nonprofit struggles to implement an ambitious “green jobs” program that hires 150 unemployed residents to plant trees in underserved parks. With only six months until their grant money runs out, serious obstacles block their path and speak to deep rifts in the life of the city — racial tensions, uneven government support, and locals who feel their voices have not been heard. But for the trainees the program represents something much more hopeful: the means to give a child a better life, a second chance after a conviction, or a path to community leadership.

Featured in the film: Washington Parks & People, DC Green Corps Training Program

Directed by Brandon Kramer and produced by Lance Kramer, Meridian Hill Pictures.