Courtyard & Sanctuary: Urban Ecology and Community Stewardship
“I can describe myself as a greening strategist, I have a passion for environmental justice and urban ecology.”
—Tiffany Jones, National Wildlife Federation Engagement Manager, Sacred Grounds
Tiffany Jones joined the Climate Cafe Multifaith for a conversation about green restoration and stewardship. As the Education and Engagement Manager of the National Wildlife Federation’s Sacred Grounds program, Jones works directly with faith communities and others to write grants and engage partners to be true stewards of their properties. Says Jones, the scope of the Sacred Grounds program is to “really embrace folks who want to create wildlife habitat and actively link faith-based practices and caring for the environment.”
For Jones, this is a vocational call. Her effort addresses sustainability, water management, and urban habitat stewardship in un-activated city lots, community centers, churches yards, temple grounds, and other places of worship. It’s hands on work. But it is also heart-felt work. With every rain garden, she sees opportunities to right the wrongs of urban redlining and neglect as well as to invite back the birds and butterflies—and even maybe a few ducks—for a “beautiful relationship” between science, people, community, and wildlife habitat in the midst of urban life.
Jones discovered a love for urban ecology as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. Her studies and first-jobs made her a “city hopper,” enabling her to see the connection between urban landscapes and systemic harms. Stepping into that work, she broached “very difficult conversations” as a means to break through those harms to envision how “knowledge and history” could inform and challenge “systemic barriers.”
As she gained experience, she began to understand how the neglect of some urban spaces, “really speaks to disinvestment and environmental racism.” She notes that disinvestment could result in “vacant lots and blight.” Disinvestment also hampers the ability of those same communities “to steward spaces” of that neglect, as they received “very little support.”
For Jones, a vocational call to address systemic failures and bring restoration across landscapes is a big part the solution. She is inspired by the Gen Z generation and an enthusiastic advocate of ‘green’ vocations in general. She encourages “young people …to get into these green careers and really expand their horizons.” While training to be “a doctor or a lawyer—those are beautiful careers—” says Jones. “But there are so many other things…arborists, pruners, civil engineers for green stormwater infrastructure, environmental education,” and more.
“Native plants are the center of our work, and access to nature—no matter how big or small…
”
—Tiffany Jones, National Wildlife Federation
The Sacred Grounds program in the Great Lakes Region now has 87 sites in 4 cities: in Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, and in Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Photo by DJ Johnson, Cleveland, Ohio.
Like many people who work closely with community members, Jones speaks to the importance of listening to the needs, capacity and hope of the communities she serves. In Detroit, addressing environmental justice takes many forms. One that was urgent was addressing a change in city water policies, a change that had resulted very high water bills for congregations.
The overnight cost increase fueled urgency to do something about it. At the same time, a silver-lining bloomed. The need for action became a catalyst for water policy and landscape stewardship conversations in many congregations. “There was a huge church movement for the first time in environmentalism,” says Jones.
The question of how to remedy the high water bills became an opportunity to ask questions, such as “how do we solve this by doing natural system work, such as green stormwater infrastructure?” There was also educational opportunities, says Jones, in encouraging congregations to see how stewardship practices could “be embedded in how we see our properties.” The city’s “land use change” changed perspectives, with congregations now “seeing how the property can be productive and beneficial. Not just for habitat and pollinators, but also for water bills.”
“All of our work is grounded in creating habitat and creating native plant habitat for wildlife to thrive, because we thrive when wildlife thrives.”
—Tiffany Jones, National Wildlife Federation
A great blue heron in the Waterloo State Recreation Area, in Chelsea, Michigan. Photo by Tyler Butler
The Sacred Grounds program supports an interested congregation to gain grants for their projects, and build partnerships with supportive organizations. Partnerships can be developed within the community itself, but also with other national organizations such as the Audubon Society. Construction and the final result can inspire conversation, and the congregation can become an ambassador for nature. Jones asks, “how can this rain garden serve as a way to connect them to something they want to do in their own neighborhood?”
Jones offers support all the way through the project, including communicating with funders. She stresses that “community-based work needs to align to support community needs and vision.” This is a learning curve, too, for everyone involved. Jones advocates for building trust with “vulnerable communities that have been abandoned and ignored.” Listening means putting the community first, “even sometimes before grant deliverables.”
The pay off is enormous, however, when we find a way to restore and heal natural and human spaces together. Jones offers another garden example from her project with the Missionary Baptist Church in Toledo. Says Jones, there “used to be a drug house on this property that was demolished. It’s now a sacred native plant garden.” The garden has Wi Fi, meeting places, and wheelchair access. For Jones, this is “a really beautiful story of land use change…and how communities can be transformed for good and for healing.”
Eager to get started? Connect with Tiffany and/or the National Wildlife Federation Sacred Grounds office in your region. The National Wildlife Federation is continuing to expand their programmatic reach. While the Sacred Grounds effort isn’t yet available in every state, contact them to express your hope to connect and engage in a collaborative project with supportive partners as soon as may be.
Tiffany Jones: My experiences and passions are grounded in urban ecological research and community driven programming. I believe building authentic relationships across differences is critical in addressing systemic environmental barriers and centering voices that have been traditionally excluded from the conservation/environmental space. In my current role as the Education and Community Engagement Manager at the National Wildlife Federation Great Lakes Regional Center, I work alongside community anchor institutions (including houses of worship, early childcare centers, and other community centered sites) to create high-quality natural spaces thereby increasing access to nature. In building these relationships, I also work to build understanding and trust in the iterative process of collaboration and implementation alongside these trusted community anchors. This leads to long term solutions that benefit both habitat and people, particularly Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) and frontline communities that are most vulnerable. In this work, I continue to advocate for equity and justice to continue facilitating scalable impact that support a movement towards healthier communities and habitats. Beyond my work, I love going cross country skiing, exploring my local green spaces, visiting our beautiful National Parks and cooking with loved ones.
Find more articles and video at the intersection of faith, climate change and climate justice on the Faiths4Future blog.
Rev. Richenda Fairhurst is here for the friendship and conversations about climate, community, and connection. She organizes the Climate Cafe Multifaith as a co-leader of Faiths4Future, and is also on substack. Find her in real life in Southern Oregon, working as Steward of Climate with the nonprofit Circle Faith Future.