Houston Endowment grants $8 million for parks and trees

• $4 million is going to each organization to "supercharge" their work, Lisa Hall, vice president of program strategy at the Houston Endowment, said in a blog post.

How it works: The Houston Parks Board will use the funds to focus on small park projects, per the blog post. Previous grants from the endowment went toward bigger, signature parks like Buffalo Bayou.

• Plus, a significant part of the grant is the inclusion of Trees for Houston, a decades-old organization that plants trees in parks and neighborhoods across the city.

Why it matters: Houston is home to several heat islands, where heat-absorbing surfaces and structures contribute to higher temperatures.

• One way to combat the heat island effect is to plant shade trees.

What they're saying: "We're planting in neighborhoods that have been so historically underserved," Barry Ward, executive director at Trees for Houston, tells Axios. "The inequity of level of services in these areas is so egregious."

• Ward says that with the grant money, trees could be planted in neighborhoods including the Greater East End, Gulfton and Sunnyside.