mental stewardship to economics, as well as health and spiritual well-being.
How Community Works
Canfield emphasizes the valuable lesson of collaboration and cooperation he learned while working for W. Clem- ent Stone, a philanthropist and self-help author: When working together, focus on overlapping goals and interests, and not on differences.
In Chicago, Illinois, where the Eat Fresh Eat Local movement sparks suc- cessful collaborations, the focus is on food, rather than issues of race, sex or economic disparity. There, hundreds of people are growing food together in communal spaces on city-owned land, privately owned empty lots and roof- tops, as well as in school gardens, food forests and urban farm sites.
“Self-reliant, community-operated urban farms and the food centers that retail the produce to residents in sur- rounding neighborhoods—some in the city’s most isolated and impoverished communities—are economic drivers that create jobs,” says Erika Allen, projects manager of Chicago’s Growing Power office. The daughter of national organi- zation founder Will Allen notes that lo- cal workshops resemble a cross-section of the world. “Participants from different countries, cultures and economic levels come together for three meals a day, where we connect, share perspectives and learn from one another.” Another successful initiative, Building a Healthier Chicago (BHC), brings together the Chicago Depart- ment of Public Health, the Office of the Regional Health Administrator of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Chicago Medical Society and the Institute of Medicine of Chi- cago. The BHC agribusiness project de- velops and maintains a system of more accessible food supply, distribution and markets where people live, work, play, pray and learn.
Neighbors in Milwaukee, Wis- consin, organized park cleanups with the long-range goal of replacing crime
“We’re one humanity and we’re all in this together.” ~ Jack Canfield
“The transformation of our society, world and
universe starts and ends with the transformation of ourselves… and in this way to co-create with others and Spirit a person, a community, a civilization, a planet and a
cosmos that are whole and harmonious.” ~ Malcolm Hollick
and litter with learning. Now, Riverside Park, once an area of urban blight, has both a college-level field research sta- tion and grade school outdoor class- room, offering innovative school, adult and community programs operated by the Urban Ecology Center (UEC). Programs serve 44 schools and have spawned two branches in Washington Park and Menomonee Valley to serve residents in those areas. The UEC’s latest project, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Milwaukee, the River Revitalization Foundation, Milwaukee County Parks, private businesses and local landown- ers, is an arboretum that will protect and restore 40 acres of land for native species and wildlife habitat along the Milwaukee River. “With the creation of the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum, southeastern Wisconsin has a new, biologically diverse space for growing future environmental stew- ards,” says UEC Executive Director Ken Leinbach. He particularly likes creating spaces and resources that give people that wouldn’t normally connect a place to bump into one another.
Expanding Worldview
College settings are similarly intended to encourage stimulating and expansive dialogue among diverse populations. At Mount Holyoke College, in South Had- ley, Massachusetts, recent environmen- tal study grads Dana Rubin and Hannah Blackmer met Frances Moore Lappé when she visited to share the message of her book EcoMind: Changing the Way
natural awakenings December 2012 33
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