Chandler's got a green light to go greener, courtesy of Uncle Sam. The City of Chandler nabbed a decent chunk of federal change—$767,000, to be precise—to put more trees in the ground and combat the sizzle of Arizona heat.

The dough is rolling in from the Inflation Reduction Act's bountiful purse, which dropped $1.5 billion for urban forestry nationwide, Chandler's windfall aims to give its streets and schools a leafy makeover, part of a broader campaign to fight the furnace-like conditions that locals know all too well, and in doing so not only cooling the streets, but ostensibly cleaning up the air and putting out the welcome mat for public health and safety, according to a recent blurb from Urban Forestry at Chandler's official website.

The Chandler Unified School District is on board, and they're about to turn their schoolyards into outdoor classrooms—little Johnny and Sally are set to get schooled in urban forestry as they get their hands dirty with tree plantings. It's not going to be a willy-nilly tree spree, though. The city's aiming its green thumb at specific public properties craving shade, the ones where trees can pack the most punch for nature's sake. They aren't flying blind either; a fresh park tree inventory and some high-tech tools like the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) are guiding this verdant venture.

The Chandler City Council gave the thumbs up to the grant agreement on March 21, so it's all systems go now. These grant funds, which need no match to pocket, were part of a wider pot spread among 385 proposals that crossed the Forest Service's desk, seeking to beef up tree canopies and bridge the green gap in communities, as per the info outlined by Urban Forestry.