Growing Power Milwaukee

When I go to Growing Power in Milwaukee(Will Allen's place) they have proudly displayed many giant checks from various government and banking institutions. The checks are physically large like the checks golfers get when they win and they are also large in the dollar amounts(80,000-150,000). A: This makes me wonder how profitable this farm really is and B: Is it permaculture to accept money from these systems?

"Growing Power is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities.  Growing Power implements this mission by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner."

http://growingpower.org/

I think their aquaponics model could be profitable if that were the focus of the operation. 

Permaculture, on a large scale, takes a large initial input of cash (or many years of labor) to establish.  If they are accepting cash grants to accomplish this, then YES, it is permaculture.  If, however, they need large inputs of cash to keep it going, then I would say it is NOT permaculture.  A basic principle of permaculture is that once established, it takes a minimum amount of inputs (cash and labor) to maintain it.  If/when the day comes that those funds are no longer available, will they be able to self-sustain themselves at their present levels?  If they can, it is permaculture, if they cannot, then it is not permaculture.  Using cash to short-cut the time element does not disqualify it as permaculture.  (IMHO)