Eugene's Triple Bottom Line (TBL) tool is highlighted in this new publication from Columbia Law School's Human Rights Institute. The TBL was identified along with approaches used in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco as tools for human rights assessments in local governance.
The report, Using Human Rights Assessments in Local Governance: A Toolkit for State and Local Human Rights and Human Relations Commissions, describes how these tools are used and the value of a rights-based approach to local governance. As the report indicates “government staff and officials who use these tools emphasize that applying a standard set of questions related to equality and human rights to budgets, policies and programs, and the process of gathering data to undertake the analysis, can lead to better outcomes and increase government responsiveness to communities. In San Francisco, California, Eugene and Portland, Oregon and King County and Seattle, Washington, governments use an equity or human rights analysis tool in a broad range of policy areas to identify and eradicate inequalities, including on the basis of race, gender and economic status. Each jurisdiction defines the goals and process of their analysis differently, but together they offer a framework that can be modified for jurisdictions around the country.”