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You are the solution to your communitys challenges Knowing the ABCD framework will help you build stronger communities You will only learn what you already know ABCD training is full of stories to illustrate lessons
Sufi Story
Moral first You will only learn what you already know Troubled Town Visit 1 - No Visit 2 - Yes Visit 3 Aftermath Wisdom is in our own community not outside
John McKnight
Citizen Husband Father Dog owner Community Organizer University Professor
University Opportunity
Working with the university allowed John McKnight to expand his work with communities He could study communities beyond his neighborhoods in Chicago He traveled all over America asking questions of different communities ABCD is based on what he learned
Share
We can share with you what he learned These are things you probably already know Difference between you and John McKnight is he has visited THOUSANDS of communities gathering stories
Ask Questions
John McKnight would ask many questions of the thousands of communities he visited What have you done that has been successful in your community that you could share with others?
Collected Stories
They collected thousands of stories about what makes successful local initiatives What are the building blocks they used? What is the stuff they used? What are the ingredients they used? Over and over the same 5 ingredients appeared
The second asset are: groups of local residents that come together They are not paid They care Technical name is Associations
For Profit mom & pop Not for profit goodwill Government city hall, library
Individual
Asset Based Community Development says that people are the answer the focus is:
finding who has what assets how to connect assets how to get people to contribute their assets to help solve problems
The Asset Based CD model says we are citizens (someone that contributes to the community)
We can all make a contribution Community can take pride in itself Local relationships are important and improved We are the answer We are equal with others we work together
Alexis De Tocqueville:
In those places where one encounters
very powerful and rich men, the weak and poor feel, as it were, burdened by their lowly status and since they discover no means of being able to recover equality, they lose any sense of hope in themselves, drifting below any standards of human dignity.
Asset Mapping
Individuals have:
Gifts Talents Dreams Hopes Fears
Focus on Gifts
Everyone has them we learn ways to hide them Can remove negative labels diabetic / drug addict / handicapped Gifts are not gifts unless they are shared
Personal assets
Gifts of the head things you know about (birds, movies, art history) Gifts of the hands things you know how to do (carpentry, gardening, cooking) Gifts of the heart things you care deeply about (environment, education )
What gift (skill, interest, hobby) do you have that would surprise most people? What makes you a great family member? What absorbs you enough that you lose track of time? What really good thing is going on in your neighborhood?
Connector an individual that is good at discovering what people care about and where their assets can be used.
Gift centered Well connected Trusted Believe they are welcome
WHO CARES?
Care, unlike service, cannot be produced. Care is the consenting commitment one has for the other, freely given. Care cannot be mandated, managed or produced as a service can. One of the great errors in most policy making maps is the pretension that systems can produce care. Care is the domain of the associational community.
In the symbolic example of the glass filled to the middle with liquid, the system needs the empty half while the community needs the full half. The service system needs a client. They need to create jobs and need your needs. The community needs a citizen with assets to contribute.
Associations fail when they confuse themselves as institutions and institutions as associations
Associations
Decide on an answer and try to get people involved in doing the answer Exclude people Hand over vision to an institution
Outreach Triangle moves a small piece of them into the circle Volunteering Triangle gets citizens to volunteer to a triangle cause, they have to follow the rules of the triangle game Citizen Advisory Group Triangle assembles people around them to get them to do what the triangles want None of these help the Circles and are not community building and not a partnership
Institutions
How do we turn our institutions from a fortress into a treasure chest? Respect they are organized for Consistency, Sustainability and Reliability Produce Services, Cannot produce Care Strong communities make strong institutions they can be community serving by local action
Purchasing, Investment & Banking, School Involvement, Accountability: Local people serving on Boards & Committees, Staff contributes time, resources and effort to community, Contributing use of space and equipment, Opening doors
Successful Communities
Connect neighborhoods & use many gifts Created at the core an association of associations Associations are the Lords Citizens have the final responsibility of outcome & work Institutions become the Servants with assets Group of local citizens join together to create a vision with common goals
Discover what they have Discover what they want to do Decide how they want to do it Take action and DO IT
Implement vision, want support for contributions & production not for deficits Needs of Community should be the last question
Association Mapping
Exercise
Determine community goal Find allies Determine additional players Decide how to bring them on board Identify assets to contribute from your institution, association, and/or individually Utilize these resources to map and mobilize community Come back to ABCD Intensive to share stories, successes and challenges
Thank you from your neighbors in Sarasota, Florida JOE, DANIELLE AND DENISE