During this, our 50th anniversary year, we’re sharing 50 reason to celebrate Center for Neighborhoods — one reason each week. The posts come from different stakeholders in the organization, representing our past, present, and future.

This week’s post is written by Mikal Forbush, Education & Engagement Director

What Are the Assets Of Your Neighborhood?

Every neighborhood has assets, however, some are identified by their needs and deficiencies. There are numerous problems with identifying neighborhoods strictly by their needs and deficiencies; most money is directed to narrowly defined programs, with the focus being on leaders who magnify deficiencies, and damaged local relationships to name a few. Those of us in the non-profit world know all too well how a needs analysis can drive our work, but neighborhoods and the residents who live there shouldn’t be identified by those needs. We can’t state enough that every community and neighborhood has assets and the most important asset is its people.

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is one of the foundations of our work at the Center for Neighborhoods. ABCD is a strategy for sustainable, community-driven development that focuses on a community’s assets rather than its needs. The strategy is a place-based framework pioneered by John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann, founders of the ABCD Institute at Northwestern University. It builds on the gifts (skills, experiences, knowledge, and passions) of local community members, the power of local associations, and the supportive functions of local institutions to shape a more sustainable community for the future. We are working to spread the word about ABCD and work with our neighbors to use assets to move our community forward.