A term I kept hearing at the Community Food Security Coalition meeting in Des Moines was the "triple bottom line." This refers to an emerging standard for measuring the success of urban or community initiatives. The three parts of the triple bottom line (TBL) are social, environmental, and economic outcomes.
The workshop I mentioned below, "A Sense of Place," conducted by Lisa Oliver-King of Our Kitchen Table and market manager Yvonne Woodard, both of Grand Rapids MI, was one where this idea was featured. Oliver-King heads a grass-roots neighborhood program that, rather than accept outside help to create a community garden, made a community from yard gardeners. She and others took exception to the neighborhood being called a "food desert," when there were dozens of families growing gardens.
Gardeners were encouraged to move some of their growing into their front yards, to increase interaction with neighbors. Households that had not been gardening were encouraged to start. Renters are encouraged to use containers, so they will not lose their gardens if they have to move. The gardeners feed their families and sell produce at Woodard's farmers market, which is chiefly made up of city gardeners, not rural farmers.
Our Kitchen Table uses learning circles to elicit knowledge that already resides in the neighborhood, and to empower the people to find their own solutions and build their own economy. They have chosen to work on environmental justice projects to improve the health and safety of their surroundings, as well as the gardening program.
The triple bottom line for this effort: households have an economic impact on the community not only by producing food but also from the entrepreneurial spirit that is unleashed; the environment benefits not only from organic gardening, but also from engaging the city to change its practices in poor neighborhoods. Finally, much social capital is created through neighborhood engagement, empowerment, and leadership development, and from the creation of a model that is being emulated in other places. These outcomes bring to mind another term that is in vogue, resilience.
