Asset Based Community Development Resources

Asset Based Community Development is a strategy to link individual and community assets to the larger change initiatives so that communities
can drive the development process by identifying and mobilizing existing, but often unrecognized assets, and thereby responding to and creating local economic opportunity. This website/toolkit is a link to Asset Based Community Development resources. It provides talking points, asset mapping tools and facilitation tools. In the context of assessment, the approach uses a capacity inventory rather than a “needs” assessment to identify assets within the community that may not be obvious or useful to residents.


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.