Neighborhood Improvements are Easy as ABCD

 


If you listen in on conversations around town or look at social media posts you will notice that many conversations are about problems that need to be fixed. It is termed as a deficit focus.

 

It is sometimes dressed up as “what are our needs.”

 

The challenge is that this focus rarely works. And if it does it rarely keeps people engaged.

 

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is a better approach for long-term impact. This approach to addressing community needs starts with the assumption that the most significant need in a community is the need for more connection and mobilization of existing community strengths. 

 

By starting with a community's assets, we discover that many solutions are initiated locally, sustained by the community members, and have an exponential impact. 

 

It does require residents to be engaged beyond complaining. But when people are asked to apply their talents and gifts, it is generally easier to get them to engage.

 

Often in neighborhoods we make a list of all that is wrong and needs to be corrected. Sometimes, we can fix a few things, but this is not sustainable. Instead, we look at what is strong, not what is wrong.

 

ABCD co-founder John McKnight has written some good books on this topic. The book “Abundant Communities” is my favorite.

 

Here are some of the key attributes of ABCD: start with gifts; build relationships for mutual support; value small, grassroots, community-driven efforts; nurture community member-led action; believe in possibility; lead by stepping back; and include everyone.

 

Most nonprofits build programs from a needs-based approach, which usually includes a needs assessment, creating a program to address that need, and recruiting clients. Here are some key distinctions between a needs-based approach and an asset-based approach.

 

Needs-based focuses on scarcity or what is missing; ABCD focuses on what is present and good.

 

Needs-based focuses on individuals and what they lack; ABCD focuses on the community and what they share.

 

Needs-based focuses on responding to problems; ABCD builds on opportunities.

 

Needs-based builds power centralized in programs; ABCD builds power through relationships.

 

MU Extension specialists impact community health by practicing asset-based approaches in their neighborhoods and communities. Many specialists can lead a neighborhood lab that helps your community or neighborhood discover its gifts and devise a plan to start using them. I am glad to help your neighborhood do a lab if you can organize 10-15 of your neighbors for two hours.

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