155. San Antonio Is Losing Its Trees — And It Matters More Than We Think

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Welcome to Big City, Small Town, the show about the people who make San Antonio go and grow. I'm your host today, Corey Ames, and my guest is Jackie Randall, executive director of the Bear Branches Alliance. Jackie moved to San antonio from Norfolk, Virginia in December of 2019. And during COVID she and a small group of arboriculture experts decided to start something. They founded the Bear Branches alliance, an urban forestry nonprofit focused on preserving and expanding tree canopy across the region. Here's what caught my attention.

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Bexar county has lost 20% of its tree canopy since 2000. Texas as a whole has lost nearly 25%. And to achieve what's called tree equity across San Antonio, which you'll hear more about in the interview to come, we'd need to plant over 1.5 million trees. It's a big number. But Jackie's organization isn't waiting around. They're planting trees in school, training citizen foresters, and pushing for the kind of regional collaboration this challenge requires. I wanted to understand what it takes to rebuild something as essential and frankly, as overlooked as the trees over our heads. Let's get into it.

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Let's get started with discussing your background. First and foremost. Tell me about how you came to the executive director position at Bear Branches and maybe San Antonio Spring specifically. Sure. Thank you for this opportunity. So I moved back to San Antonio in December of 2019 with my husband from Norfolk, Virginia.

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In Norfolk, I was able to join an organization called Friends of Norfolk's Environment. It was a very small nonprofit focused on tree planting and mitigating sea level rise with planting trees and brackish waters. And that is really where I learned what board service meant and what the power of a small group of individuals can do to really impact the tree canopy in their city.

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So when we decided to move back to San Antonio, my husband and I decided that we wanted to make an impact like that here in San Antonio there was not really an urban forestry nonprofit that was focused on the tree canopy, preserving it, expanding it, very similar to what tree folks does in Austin.

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And so we got together with a few other people that have a lot of knowledge about the urban forest in San Antonio. Decades of history and knowledge in a boriculture. And so we decided to use our time productively during COVID and figure out how to start a non profit and Bear Branches alliance was formed.

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And what was community reception like? I mean, you talk about the number of stakeholders involved and experts and folks with a lot of experience here in San Antonio's work in parks and recreation and even Ecology. What was reception like as you started to toss this idea around? So the first thing when we decided to form Bear Branches alliance is really understand the reality of our urban forest in the region. And when we built our mission and initiatives, we wanted to identify data that can really help tell the story of where trees are and where trees are not and help us focus our initial efforts to bringing our mission to life in those communities. So we really spent the first year after we became a nonprofit really talking to the community and bringing the data that we learned to these neighborhoods, to different municipalities, and sharing what worked well throughout the country and learned how they wanted to engage in their neighborhood tree canopy in the municipal city tree canopy. And so from that feedback, then we started developing programs.

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And the programs that we have developed, we did not invent anything new. And the wonderful thing I have learned about just the nonprofit world is if you pick up the phone and say, hey, you have this program? How is it going? How did you form it? Any obstacles? And folks were really open and generous with their time. That saved us a lot of making the same mistakes and launching our programming. Much sooner, once we got community feedback and learned what they wanted to do and how they wanted to engage, than it was just making the case to get the funding, using data, using the community's feedback to get these projects off the ground.

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What maybe in your survey, both of what you identified was working well across the country, and then acutely what San Antonio and this region needed. What maybe surprised you the most or that you learned between that point of the conception of the idea to actually fully forming the nonprofit, what might be the programming and those sorts of things. So I think one of the biggest eye openers for us all was the research that we found that tells the story of what we're currently facing with our urban canopy. It started with a study at morton arboretum in 2022 that shows 1 in 9 of our native tree species across the US states. The 48 contiguous states is at risk of extinction. Here in Texas, we're one of the top five states native trees are risk, at risk, specifically our oaks and our hawthorns. From that, then, you know, did some more research to understand our canopy loss, canopy growth. There is an organization called Global Forest Watch and that breaks down canopy cover from 2001 until now 2024. It breaks it down from country, state, region, county, and city. So using that, that also gave us the perspective of how much canopy we have lost and pointed in direction to find out what we needed to do as a community, because it's way beyond just us to achieve these goals to replace and help recover our canopy. With Global Forest Watch, the state of Texas, we've lost 25% of our tree canopy since 2000.

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Bexar county alone, we've lost 20% of our tree canopy since 2000. And with a loss of tree canopy, of course that makes our environment hotter and drier. So we've seen a rise in temperature with Heat island, we've seen a rise in pollution from the American Lung Association. We were just, I guess going in the wrong direction. We went from the 23rd most polluted city in 2023 to in 2024, the 20th most polluted city when it comes to ozone and air pollution. And there is a direct correlation between canopy loss and, you know, more pollution. And I think as we, you know, as we formed and as we are connecting the community to our trees, one of the key things that we want to make sure that come across is, you know, trees, they offer wonderful services, right? They clean our air, they give us shade, they help both our mental and physical health, but they're also critical infrastructure. And as we live in, you know, the region we do, it's important to see the holistic picture of trees. Right. So our last regional urban forestry conference we really kind of took a nod of, you know, kind of what the direction of our country, our, you know, funding priorities are.

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And we made it a point to connect the importance of the canopy to not only the health and well being of our communities, but as being a military city usa as we get hotter, we get drier, we get more polluted. There are national security risks that are also implicated with that. Right. So there's a larger, I think, broader conversation to have in regards to our tree canopy and the importance of not only our community's health but you know, the broader perspective. Well, before we delve even deeper into the impacts, spell it out a little bit more the status of the tree canopy. Obviously you cited significant loss there both in Bexar county and the state of Texas at large.

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Just guessing that's development related. It's climactic concerns and changes. But if you could get more specific for us, to the extent that you're aware, what are the main drivers of that canopy loss and splitting it up like a pie, what's top ranked and priority of what we should be aware about? So as far as the research or the data that we get from Global Forest Watch, it doesn't break it down into X percent of canopy was lost due to development, x due to climate, but we do know that a significant portion of the canopy was lost during winter Storm Uri. Right.

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That freeze came right after 80 degree weather where the trees were starting to bud and they had all their SAP flowing and then we had the hard freeze and that's what killed a lot of our trees. But as we get hotter and drier, those to drought and heat, that's two separate stresses on trees. So a lot of our native trees, like the shumard, red oaks and even pecans, we won't plant those in the majority of our plantings right now. Because as we are looking at planting, we are looking at what's going to survive in a hotter, drier San Antonio in 30 to 40 years from now. And unfortunately, some of our natives just don't have that capacity anymore. So our plan as we look at plant migration is to really look south and west of us to see what is doing well in temperatures that are 3 to 5 degrees hotter. The other thing that's really important as we look at species list and we look at our urban canopy in general, is ensuring that we're not just planting a tree.

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We want to make sure that we're planting the right tree for the ecology of our region. Every tree supports more than just us as humans with clean air. It supports an entire ecosystem. The, the pollinators, the, you know, the butterflies, bees, all of those wonderful things that, that need to keep our entire ecosystem, which then keeps our communities healthy.

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Well, and I mean, it's also connected whether it's the, the pollinators and the relationship to, you know, I don't know how many it is, one in three bites of food or whatever you know, is, is as a result of pollination from, from, from bees, for example, or the impacts of trees and the health of our, and retention of our soils, whether we're talking about flooding or just the immediate experiences of shade. But likewise trees and their ability to transpire and be almost like air conditioners for us out and about. Let's talk more about those impacts. Because one thing for me that is always kind of frustrating is that I definitely see the case being made for both the planting of and protection of existing trees made from the sense of kind of a, I guess, just purely avoiding loss, you know, and strictly mitigation.

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And that is by all means valid and legitimate. But I do think that what is maybe missed in some essence is a narrative or message promoting that the more that we plant both trees and, you know, all species of native vegetation, the more we can have like perhaps reverse some of these most damaging and threatening trends with climate. So let's talk a little bit more. You mentioned them all in brief, but as you're looking at it as an organization and the on the ground work that you've done to date, you know, what are some of the impacts that you're assessing, you know, in communities that are shed so much tree canopy versus those that may have a little bit of a healthier stance, like what are some of those high level things that you're really noticing make a major difference in those communities without trees versus those with them? So one of the tools we use is from American Forest, it's their National Tree Explorer. And that breaks up every census block and it gets a tree equity score. We use that to identify where there is need of canopy. So in San Antonio, every census block should have a goal of 40% tree canopy. Our program rooted resilience. We chose the census block in San Antonio that has the lowest tree equity score, which is 36.

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So preserving the mature trees in neighborhoods like that that have minimal canopy is almost as important as planting new trees because of the environmental and ecological services those trees provide. So knowing that a census block like that, to achieve tree equity, 238 trees need to be planted to get that 40% canopy cover. And with that canopy cover, that means cleaner air for that community, cooler temperatures for that community.

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I'm learning a lot as I join eco tours about some of the areas in San Antonio that historically have not been taken care of, have been redlined, industry has been built around them, and the quality of life and the health outcomes for these neighborhoods is horrific. And the lack of canopy in these neighborhoods, you can correspond with the increased pollution that all of these folks are dealing with. So intentionally planting trees in these neighborhoods is what is going to really help make a difference in the communities that right now need them most. And to give you just a kind of this number blew my mind a little bit. And we kind of make it smaller to make it more manageable. But according to the American Forest Tree equity map, in order for all census blocks in Bexar county, to achieve tree equity, we need to plant over 1.8 million trees. And that is if we do not lose a single tree until we get this planted. In the city of San Antonio alone, it's over 1.5 million trees.

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So that we focus on census blocks that have a tree equity score of 75 or lower. And that's, you know, about 275,000 trees, which is, you know, more, it gives us a little bit more you know, perspective to narrow down because that 1.5 million number is so large. But it also hits home the point that it's going to take all of us, right, all of us, to municipalities, government, volunteers, other organizations that are doing great work around tree canopy, which there are several, which is amazing to really, you know, make that impact. But if we don't know, you know, really the reality of what we're living in, then how do we know what our goals should be? Well, and I don't know that you have a sense or not, but, you know, is tree planting at all keeping up with that rate? You know, as in relationship with the city of San Antonio, for example, I know the city has tree planting plans. And do you feel like we're very much so underwater today in our ability to hit that number that we need to, or does there need to be a much greater accelerated rated rate of how many trees are getting in the ground every single day, every single month and year right now? My view, of course, would be the second, right. I have a tagline on my email that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now. So the more that we can collaborate not only with the city of San Antonio, but we serve, you know, all of the Alamo Area Council of Government.

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So, you know, we really work with the smaller municipalities that don't have the resources that San Antonio does. But it's going to take all of us collectively working together because trees don't care about our man made borders, right. Their benefits go beyond city limits. So one of our goals is to have that more regional conversation. So an example would be in the city of Leon Valley. The county opened a new greenway trail along Hebner Creek. We collaborated with Leon Valley to plant trees along the Greenway trail to provide shade and biodiversity and food. But the story of those trees don't end in Leon Valley, right? There's a neighborhood in San Antonio, just south, that is in a FEMA flood zone that floods. So those trees that we planted in Leon Valley, as they grow, will mitigate all of that storm water that goes down and can potentially impact. So our goal through education and different programs that we want is to really have more of a regional conversation and have more regional collaboration and planning because you know, it's going to, again, as I said, it's going to take us all well.

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And I do think that, you know, tree giveaways and tree plantings, the symbol of a tree and as well, the action of planting it I think is delightfully Simple.

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But of course, as you know, tree planting can be a bit more complex, starting with, you know, location, as you mentioned, in the ways in which you all do that, but also species selection and then of course the maintenance thereafter. And your experiences thus far, what have been kind of the greatest challenges for your organization in executing and sustaining the few years now into the nonprofit, the success or evaluating the success of the tree planting projects that you've engaged with thus far? For Bear Branches alliance, we will not do a tree planting project or implement a tree planting project without a three year watering schedule or maintenance plan in place and funded. We live in an area, you can't just plant a tree and walk away. You need to water that tree to get it established for at least three years. So telling the story when it comes to funding projects like Project Canopy and getting the monies to ensure that we are there watering those trees for three years has been a challenge. Thankfully, you know, we're all of our projects that are in the ground have that working with smaller municipalities like Leon Valley and Castroville. Those are great collaborations because we were able to get grant funding for the planting. And in Castroville we were actually able to install irrigation and then hand off the maintenance to their public works and parks department.

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So collaboration with projects like that are ideal. However, with Project Canopy, with the schools and our budget, our schools are definitely going through some budgeting problems right now. We need to raise funds for the watering for the entire three year period. So that can be a very large price tag on a program like that. Another challenge that we faced is finding the our native tree species in our nurseries. We want to make sure that we include as much biodiversity in any of our planting. Native biodiversity and being able to source those trees, like a really great example is like bluewood Condalia, amazing, small, really drought hardy, you know, wonderful tree berries are very good to eat. But finding those, you know, in our wholesale nurseries has been very, very hard. So really there's, I mean, that's a whole nother hurdle to go. You know, getting and convincing, you know, nurseries in our area to source and grow our native trees because of just how they were painted. Some of our trees have really bad reputations, which they shouldn't have. And it's just all these myths about the trees.

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So there's overcoming that and that's just really through conversation and educating folks and then trying to influence and ask our nurseries to really grow what we're needing, especially as we look at climate change and plant migration. That's so Interesting because as you know, I'm a native plant enthusiast and we do have great native nurseries here in town. Pollinators Northwest Converse, Texas actually, and then the Nectar Bar kind of closer to that Leon Valley boundary, but I think still San Antonio. But yeah, it's, you know, I bought a blue one, bluewood candelia from Donald Gerber at Pollinatives and they had four in stock. You know, so you can't really do a large scale planting project when it's like, oh, I got eight of these trees, great trees, great native trees in stock. And so that's a whole different kind of problem of industry that you'll need to figure out how to work around. I suppose the great news about that though is there is a professor in Florida that figured out how to do that there.

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So we have a pathway, like we have an example, right, of what works that maybe be implemented here. So hope.

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Well, I mean, before we move on and we can delve a little bit into the details, especially as I know there's just homeowners who are going to be, you know, watching this or listening to this, what are some of the species? And this is not necessarily needed for a large scale project. But if someone was looking, you know, to plant a new tree in what would otherwise be just a plain lawn perhaps, and I see a lot of those in San Antonio, so there's a lot of opportunity for it. What might be some of the, you know, a handful of species that in your experience thus far you'd recommend would be good choices for people to look for their nurseries, you know, rainbow gardens, the nectar bar pollinators, they only need one of them. So I think that it would be really important to understand people's goals when it comes to planting their trees.

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So a really beautiful tree that is fruit that produces delicious fruit is the Texas persimmon. It's my favorite native. But that's like a smaller, you know, smaller species tree. If you're looking for something that provides a lot of shade to save energy, then like a Mexican white oak or a Texas fallam or cedar elm would be great. But it's really, you know, it depends on what your goals are as a homeowner. How much space you have is really important as well.

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And then, you know, what kind of tree do you want? Do you want something that doesn't drop its leaves? Do you want something that flowers? Do you want something that you can, you know, harvest from? And I think there also is a lot of education that can be shared around our native Trees and what we can harvest, like mesquite, you know, you can eat the beans. There's so many things that you can do with acorns, ratamas, you know, things like that. So there is a really great resource from the Texas Forest Service. It's called their tree selector app that you can go in and you can, you know, put in your needs and it will suggest native trees for years of code that would benefit or like be right for. For what your goals are, your house. You know, broadly, like with kind of broad strokes. The solutions to this sort of thing are loss of our canopy, you know, preservation and planting. But maybe from a more tactical perspective, if there's any recommendations you could make, you know, of various entities, city, you know, non profit, private or whatever, what do you see from your vantage as to, you know, what San Antonio could be, you know, doing more of, less of what have you to really get a handle on the decline of our tree canopy here. There are a lot of good things happening in the region, but they're happening in silos. And I think that there is an opportunity for more exposure to what groups are doing and more collaboration as far as like how we are all making the broader impact. Because at the end of the day we all have the same, you know, a lot of us have the same goals, especially when it comes to trees, right. We want to preserve our canopy and we want to expand it, but there are many different avenues that are being taken. So parks does their tree adoptions, which is great, we're getting some of those trees and hosting one on Saturday and they have an equity program where they are going to communities and they're planting trees. There are other nonprofit organizations like Bear Branches alliance that are also meeting the need and working with their direct neighborhoods to expand their canopy. Whether it be tree adoptions or planting in schools like we do, but in a different way. So I think there is a lot of really great work that's happening. I think that there is an opportunity for more conversation and collaboration around the work and how we can complement each other.

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Because this is not a competition, right. We have so many trees to plant together.

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Now I'd love to hear, as you mentioned in passing, a number of bare branches programs that you all engage in on a day to day and annual basis.

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Let's start first with one you've already mentioned, Project Canopy.

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Very interested in that one and I'm definitely self interested. Our house is technically in Northside ISD residence, so with a about to be 24 year old myself, you know, we're always thinking about schools for the future, but yeah, let's start there and then you can share what else y' all are working in. So Project Canopy was actually based on a planting we did with, I did with Friends of Norfolk's environment. We planted at two schools and really connected with an elementary school teacher there to learn, like, how much more holistic the planting could be from the student experience and from an educational opportunity. So when we formed in July of 2021 and met Isaac Esquivel, who is the environmental education teacher at Northside in October of 21, and he had taken over from the amazing Kent Page, who retired, who started a program in Northside ISD called Project Acorn.

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And so Acorn started trees from acorns he would collect. And we as an organization really wanted to do large scale plantings and start making a difference.

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So initially we approached parks with some ideas for plantings within parks, but at that time, the. The bond had just passed, so planting in parks was not an option for us. So that's why we shifted to the school districts and started to build a relationship with Northside. So Project Canopy turned into a tree planting project. We initially identified 10 schools as our pilot. And all of these schools were high risk in Heat island, social vulnerability and equity. Out of the 10 schools, we were given permission to start with five to see how it goes, because, you know, we're new and needed to have proof in the pudding.

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So we created a program in collaboration with Northside and got funding to plant the trees. So how the program works is before we launched Canopy for the five schools that were selected, we had a logo contest. And so we chose the. There was a fifth grader from Mead elementary that was the official artist for our logo. And that really started to get the students involved. So after the logo contest, then we let them know what species of trees were being planted. So the students actually researched facts about the trees that ended up being printed on tree ID tags in both English and Spanish that live on the trees still so the next generation can go and learn about the tree. Then we collaborated through a grant from American Forest with American Youth Works, which is part of the Texas Conservation Corps, to actually plant the trees at the schools.

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Because at that point, I was the only staff at Bear Branches. This collaboration was mutually beneficial because it provided, of course, me the staff I needed to lead the student groups. But it also gave the folks from American Youth Works leadership opportunities, which is part of their workforce development. So we taught them how to plant trees and then taught them how to teach the students to plant trees. And so the day of they led, about 850 students were involved in the planting on these five campuses. All the fourth and fifth grade students were there that day. So they led the student groups and the students actually planted the trees. After the trees were planted, they measured the circumference of the tree and the height. They reported that to the globe program, which is a citizen science program run by NASA and noaa. We also maintain GIS location for each tree and species and monitor that year after year. The goal of the survival rate on these schools is 80%. We're right now at about 91%. And we just celebrated Esparza Elementary, Meade elementary and Driggers Elementary.

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Two full years in the ground. And really the main what led to mortality was landscaper disease.

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So each year the students, the next fifth grade class goes and they inventory the trees, they do the circumference and the height report that. And then we were able to enroll these schools in the Arbor Day foundations tree Campus K through 12. So every year we celebrate Arbor Day at these schools.

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They raise their Arbor Day flag and yeah, we're just continuing the education and creating hopefully tree steers as we go. We were also featured in Green Schoolyards America, their green schoolyards program, which highlights planting, you know, schoolyard forests throughout the country. So that was a really great opportunity. Our goal this year is to expand to 10 more campuses that are high risk in the data that we that we use and planting a thousand trees.

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Our first round of canopy schools, we were actually able to hire one of the American youth works folks that helped us plant the trees full time to water those trees. So she's with us until February of 2027.

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Excellent. And so five campuses, 10 new campuses, 15 total, aspirationally, at the end of. This year, at the end of the. School year, at the end of the school year. I think that that's an incredible success story. Just especially when it seems like the barrier is, you know, first and foremost, finding the places that you're allowed to plant trees. And I'm sure, you know, no matter the district, we can pass a lot of schoolyards. I know I do driving throughout San Antonio, just absolutely scorched lawns. My wife grew up in Texas, recalling so many days in which even then, you know, that she couldn't go out to recess because it was just too hot.

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And so it feels like planting more trees on schoolyards is an absolute no brainer. Why was that project or why was that fit? You know, with northside or whomever the various partners involved. Why did that make so much sense in work, and how might that be replicated elsewhere? It was successful because it really Covid brought out a big need, Having to take the students outside to do educational work. There was no shade, so it was really one of the schools too, I think, had less than 20 trees on the entire campus. And these campuses are massive. So as far as project canopy and the ability to replicate it, that's what we've worked with northside to do. So the first year, we got grant funding to have a truck and a water trailer and then someone to manually water the trees each week. Now it's developed into irrigation, which is more efficient watering and of course, lessens our carbon footprint because we don't have a truck and a trailer and a little motor on a trailer with all the emissions. But that also comes with barriers and challenges, too. This program could be easily replicated. I feel like Isaac is kind of a unicorn. Not every school district in San Antonio has an environmental education teacher. And he has specific. He specifically does curriculum for fifth grade students. Northside has 83 schools, I believe elementary schools that he goes to once a year. So for other school districts that don't have someone in that position, There are some great resources through planet learning tree that we can use to supplement the curriculum. If the school districts don't have any curriculum currently available or have the ability to incorporate a new curriculum for their staff. So our goal is to lessen the load of the staff. We know our teachers are very overutilized and under resourced. So it's important that every school that we plant, it is a collaboration with not only the district, but the principal. And then the day of planting, you know, getting the teachers and students involved with not adding any more burden to their already heavy load. Well, I mean, there's so much that we could go into in that project alone. But let's hear more about what y' all do throughout the year and maybe with that, suggestions for how it's best for people to get involved and engaged if they're interested in the bear branches alliance and taking their part to both expand and preserve San Antonio's greater area tree canopy.

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So ways to get involved with bear branches alliance, There are many. Our program season typically runs from October through May. June, we take the summer off because the trees need it and so do we. Our tree bed citizen forester. If you're really interested in learning how to preserve your trees at your home, preserve trees in park. So if you don't have a tree at your house, you can still make an impact on our urban canopy. We have certified arborists that train volunteers how to safely use professional tools to prune trees and then how to safely prune the tree for yourself. And of course, we want to prune the tree and leave it healthy. So we teach both canopy pruning as well as base pruning. A lot of times trees are planted incorrectly, so we'll teach you how to extend expose the root flare, which is essentially where the tree breeds, and then any girdling roots will teach you how to prune those. So the reciprocity of the events, you're helping our trees in our public spaces while gaining knowledge for you to take home and care for your trees. As far as tree planting programs, I would check out our events calendar. We have projects that are waiting in the wings for funding, and as soon as we get that funding, we'll post the event and ask folks to come out. And then if you just want to learn more about trees, you can also join one of our tree trail treks. They are free educational walks through parks. We're currently training. Our first ever tree guide cohort actually is launching. So we are training volunteers to teach them how to speak about trees in whatever vein they would like. So if their approach to a tree is just, you know, how it's important to the native pollinators in the region, then they can do a tree talk on that. If they want to talk about how trees interact with geology, there's that option. So really excited to have those graduates next year. You know, take some folks and have some walks and talk trees.

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And then we have annual opportunities to get involved as well. We're hosting our second annual Trees and 20 Torque. It's a community car show that brings attention to our poor air quality while reaching out to communities that we typically don't, as environmental groups do. But we will host a tree adoption and really promote trees as air mechanics and shade mechanics and really celebrate what they do and how they contribute to our communities.

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And then we host a regional urban forestry conference where we bring national, statewide, you know, science news about trees that is regionally relevant every year. So we'll have our fourth annual in March, and then we'll also host our annual 5K. And that raises much needed core mission support to keep small organizations and any organization essentially afloat. So we are partnering with Arboretum San Antonio to host that out there again this year. Great.

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And I'm sure there's as well, opportunities to donate if people are interested. Is that just done through the website? It is, yes. Okay.

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And that's bear branchesalliance.com it's bearbranches.org yeah. All right. Well, Jackie, thank you so much for taking the time with me. I'm sure you'll see me out there at some of those events to come. And thanks for sharing your experience and expertise. Thank you for the opportunity. All right, y', all, that was Jackie Randall, executive director of the Bear Branches Alliance.

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Thanks to Jackie for taking the time and for the work that she and her team are doing across Bexar County.

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What stuck with me? Trees aren't just nice to have their infrastructure.

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They shape how hot it gets, how clean our air is, how our neighborhoods feel to live in. And addressing that at scale is going to take all of us, our city, nonprofits, neighbors, all working together. That's the kind of coordination that San Antonio is still figuring out. But I think we are on our way.

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This episode was made possible with support from Geekdom and Westin Urban. We're grateful for their continued investment in San Antonio and our region. We publish two newsletters every single week, My San Antonio Something and Bob Rivard's Monday Musings. If you want to stay connected to what's happening in the city, sign up for either newsletter@bigcitysmalltown.com or check the episode description below. Thanks for listening to Big City Small Town.

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I'm Corey Ames. We'll see you next time.