Transcript A sset B ased C ommunity D evelopment

Asset Based Community Development
New Prospect Baptist Church Leaders
Damon Lynch III
February 2013
What is this ABCD?
2
 Asset Based Community Development
 Needs to Assets
 Assets & Use
 Gifts & Talents
 Associations & Social Capital
 Transforming Institutions
 How We Serve
Presentation Objectives
3
 By the end of this presentation:
 Each person will hear about the difference between needs &
assets
 Each person will have the chance to question how
institutions operate in community
 Each person will reflect on his or her own capabilities
Needs Map :: Community
4
Unemployment
Housing Projects
Crime
Child Abuse
Poverty
Teen Mothers
Gang Members
Mentally Ill
School Dropouts
Illiteracy
Homeless
Truancy
Uninsured
Addiction
Delinquency
Needs Map Functions
5
 Internalized labels
 Destroyed relationships
 Foundation funding decisions
 Foundation funding categories
 Power gained by pointing out needs
 Failure rewarded therefore dependency
 Hopelessness created
Y / N Welfare Form Examples
6
 Inadequate housing?
 Limited job skills?
 Lack job seeking skills?
 Poor work history?
 Lack a high school diploma / GED?
 Lack training for a career goal?
 History of drug or alcohol abuse?
 Felony record?
 Losing benefits (food stamps, medicare, etc.)?
The Two Approaches
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 Needs
 Services
 Consumers
 Programs
 Assets
 Connect & Contribute
 Citizens
 People
ABCD Principles & Goals
8
 Everyone has gifts
 For ABCD to work, everyone must give gifts
 Identifies and mobilizes the assets of individuals,
especially those who are marginalized
 Builds relationships among community members,
especially those that are mutually supportive
 Gives community members more roles and power in
local institutions; citizens lead efforts
Asset Map :: Community
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Local Institutions
Businesses
Churches
Citizens’ Associations
Gifts of
Individuals
Income
Parks
Youth
Elderly
School
Block Clubs
Artists
Labeled
People
Libraries
Culture Groups
Hospitals
Community Colleges
Gift Survey :: Gifts
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 From New Prospect Baptist Church of Cincinnati, OH
 Introduction
 My name is_________________. What is your name?
 Gifts are abilities that we are born with that can
change
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What positive qualities do people say you have?
Who do you give to? How do you give to them?
When was the last time you shared with someone else? What
was it?
What do you give that makes you feel good?
Gift Survey :: Skills
11
 Skills are talents that we’ve acquired in everyday life
such as cooking and fixing things
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What do you enjoy doing?
If you could start a business, what would it be?
What do you like to do that people would pay you to do?
Have you ever made anything? Have you ever fixed anything?
Gift Survey :: Dreams
12
 Dreams are those goals you hope to accomplish
 What are your dreams?
 If you could snap your fingers and be doing anything, what
would it be?
 Conclusion
 Thank you; we’re talking to as many people as we can
 The ultimate goal is to find a way to use those gifts in
rebuilding the community
 Can I get your full name? Address? Age?
Community Wheel
13
Individuals
Physical
Associations
Community
Stories
Institutions
Economy
Wheel :: Associations
14
Associations
• Animal Care Groups
• Veterans’ Groups
• Block Clubs
• Business Organizations
• Charitable Groups
• Environmental Groups
• Health Advocacy Groups
Wheel :: Institutions
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Institutions
• Schools
• Police Departments
• Hospitals
• Libraries
• Social Service Groups
• Nonprofits
• Museums
Wheel :: Economy
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Economy
• For Profits
• Chamber of Commerce
• Banks
• Foundations
• Corporations
• Merchants
• Development Corporations
Wheel :: Stories
17
Stories
• Background & Personal History
• Like to Do
• Realizing & Engaging Skills
• Community Development
• Economic Growth
• Addressing Racism
• Including Those Who Are Marginalized
Wheel :: Physical
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Physical
• Gardens
• Parks
• Playgrounds
• Bike Paths
• Forests
• Housing
• Vacant Land & Buildings
• Streets
Wheel :: Individuals
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Individual Capacities
•Youth
•Older Adults
•Artists
•Welfare Recipients
•People with Disabilities
•Activists
•Ex-Offenders
•Parents
Social Capital Belief
20
 The more relationships someone has in their
community, more likely to:
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Be Employed
Volunteer
Participate in Political and Civic Activities
Join Clubs
Participate in Child’s School Life
Be Honest & Trusting
Social Capital Questions
21
 How does your work foster communication and
relationship-building among the people you serve and
residents in your community?
 What are the associations in your communities? What
might they be able or willing to do to improve the
community?
 How could you increase the associational life of your
community and the people you serve?
Engaging Institutions
22
 Their Nature – legal / fiscal / political
 Who controls the Institutions?
 Institutional assets in your community
 How can community gain more influence with these
institutions?
 How can these institutions’ resources be put to use to
strengthen the community?
Engaging Institutions (con’t)
23
 What is your organization’s relationship to community
residents? How accountable is your organization to
the people and community it serves?
 How does your service define and engage constituents?
What power do they have?
 How does your service strengthen community
relationships and social capital?
 What can you do to make your service more assetbased?
Engaging Institutions (con’t 2)
24
 Who do you hire from the neighborhood?
 Who do you do business with from the neighborhood?
 What neighborhood groups do you belong to or meet
with regularly?
 How do you relate to schools, churches, and CBOs in
your neighborhood?
 What do you feel you contribute to the neighborhood
and what else might you contribute?
 Are neighborhood people on your board of directors,
advisory groups, or committees?
The Transformation
25
Needs
Assets
• Focus on deficits
• Focus on assets
• Problem response
• Opportunity identification
• Individual responses
• Collective responses
• Focus: Individual
• Focus: community
• Fix people
• Develop potential
• See people as “clients”
• See people as “citizens”
• Programs are the answer
• People are the answer
Steps to Transformation
26
 Rediscover and mobilize the capacities of individuals
and associations
 Put decision making power in the hands of those
affected
 Practice ABCD internally and encourage, evaluate, and
reward learning inside your organization
 Develop leadership inside and outside your
organization
Steps to Transformation (con’t)
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 Be a team player inside and outside your organization
 Learn about and build relationships with other
community stakeholders
 Think systemically about issues and with whom you
can collaborate to impact that issue
 Put the community first
Personal Assets
28
HAND
Make a list of all those things you can
do with your hands
HEART
Make a list of all those things you
are passionate about
HEAD
Make a list of all those things you are
good at with your brain
HUMAN
Make a list of important relationships in your
neighborhood, community, and beyond –
people you can ask to get things done
ABCD & Your Work
29
 How will you utilize ABCD in your work?
 In your life?
Asset Based Community Development
New Prospect Baptist Church Leaders
Damon Lynch III
February 2013