Neighborhood Forest began with a simple mission: to
give every child the joy of planting and watching their
very own tree grow.
The seed for this mission was planted back in the early
1990s, when Vikas Narula was a college student at
Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa.
There, he was introduced to a free tree project created
by David Kidd of Ohio. Inspired, Vikas and his friends
adopted the project and ended up giving away tens of
thousands of trees to schoolchildren across southeast
Iowa.
After college, Vikas moved to Minneapolis, married his
wife Priya and built a life together, and years later — as
their oldest son prepared to start kindergarten — they
felt called to rekindle that early love of giving trees to
kids.
What started with 4 schools in Minneapolis has grown
to over 3,500 schools, libraries, and youth groups
spanning all 50 states and 7 Canadian provinces. We
have also successfully conducted pilots in Mexico,
Haiti, and Ghana.
Today, Neighborhood Forest continues to inspire
children to plant trees, care for nature, and help create
greener, healthier neighborhoods.