Community Asset Mapping Workbook
This resource, contributed to the ABDC Toolkit by Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, is an exercise in community development. It begins by asking the reader to perform a self-assessment to determine personal assets. The text then explores ways to map one’s community, to identify the needs, strengths, and powerful and positive people who make up the community. Once the assets are listed, a pool of resources, skills, and knowledge can be defined. Next, the assets of institutions, such as schools and the children they educate, may be listed. By learning how to ask what communities have to offer, a process of building, creating, and developing can be put into motion, and new ideas for community building can be gained.
Contributor
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. Learn more at abcdinstitute.org