Asset-based community development
Asset-based community development (ABCD) is a methodology that seeks to uncover and use the strengths within communities as a means for sustainable development.
The first step in the process of community development is to assess the resources of a community through a capacity inventory [1] or through another process of talking to the residents to determine what types of skills and experience are available. The next step is to support communities, to discover what they care enough about to act. The final step is to determine how citizens can act together to achieve those goals.[1]
Contents |
Basis of the Idea [edit]
The Asset-Based Community Development Institute[2] is located at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) is at the center of a large and growing movement that considers local assets as the primary building blocks of sustainable community development. Building on the skills of local residents, the power of local associations, and the supportive functions of local institutions, asset-based community development draws upon existing community strengths to build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future. Its founders, John Kretzmann and John L. McKnight, were influential in developing this community development philosophy.
Applications to Health Systems [edit]
In the book Health Assets in a Global Context it is argued that "in egalitarian societies with strong safety nets and adequate provision of public goods, neighbourhood contexts (including the level of social cohesion) may be less salient for the health of residents in contrast to segregated and unequal societies such as the United States."[3] It is also argued that neo-liberal (unregulated market) economic doctrines promoting individual considerations over the common good erode social capital as a health asset.[4]
See also [edit]
- Allotment gardens
- Community development
- Community-based participatory research (CBPR)
- Community advisory board
- Participatory rural appraisal (PRA)
- Searsolin
- Praxis intervention
- Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action (PCHP)
References [edit]
- ^ a b McKnight, John; Kretzmann, John. "Mapping Community Capacity". Northwestern University.
- ^ Asset-Based Community Development Institute
- ^ Ichiro Kawachi. "The Relationship Between Health Assets, Social Capital and Cohesive Communities" in A Morgan, M Davies and E Ziglio (eds), Health Assets in a Global Context. Springer NY 2010. Ch 9 167-179 at 174.
- ^ F Baum. "How Forms of Social Capital Can Be An Asset for Promoting Health Equity" in A Morgan, M Davies and E Ziglio (eds), Health Assets in a Global Context. Springer NY 2010. ch 16 303-320 at 313.
Further reading [edit]
- John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight, Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets (Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, 1993)
- From Clients to Citizens: AABCD in Action: When People Care Enough To Act
- Mike Green with Henry Moore & John O'Brien, Foreword by John McKnight, Asset-Based Community Development as a Strategy for Community-Driven Development
- What is Asset Mapping? by John Emerson, 2004.
- PCHP Website
- Author Guidelines
- A Vision for Progress in Community Health Partnerships
- Inagural Issue Sample Reader
- Guidelines for Writing Manuscripts About Community-based Participatory Research in Peer- Reviewed Journals
- Beyond the Manuscript Podcasts
- Community Policy Briefs
- Editorial Board
- Access PCHP at Project MUSE
