Hello All!

I am a Community Recreation graduate student in California and am passionate about Parks&Rec making a difference in communities. I've studied ABCD extensively because my program allows us to find topics within our degree that interests us. I do not have hands-on training and have not actually implemented ABCD and feel intimidated. I would love to host a community meeting and build an asset map but feel terrified that I won't be able to pull it off with a group. What do you suggest is a good first step? Should I attend a workshop or...? Do also have suggestions for smaller steps?

Also, I would especially love to connect with anyone in Community Recreation field. Thanks for your time!

Hi Marisa. The question of scale is important. There might be a different approach if there is an identified challenge you are trying to address, than there would be if you are simply trying to do some basic relationship building. Either way, small steps are probably a good idea. Find some people with some already identified common interest. Do some basic appreciative inquiry. Ask people what they care about, what concerns them, what they like doing. See if anything surprising emerges from that set of conversations. Then do actual asset mapping when you have a goal or an action in mind.

Hi Marisa,

Your conversation has also been added to the ABCD in Action Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/429625007423984/

Great topic! I'm part of a team who is about to undertake some foundational, culture change work in a large government department in Australia - parks and rec will certainly be part of it eventually! 

I've got a whole lot of example one-day flow/agendas that I would be happy to share with you to start considering what a day like you suggest might look like?

If you're interested, send me an email and I'll flick some examples back to you: dee@jeder.com.au 

Regards,

Dee...

Hi Marisa,  I'm in California too, working right now with two communities that I approached "cold".  I'd be happy to talk with you about how to get started from the beginning.  I'm using ABCD in a collaborative project with National Forest staff, to support community engagement in wildfire readiness and use of controlled burning for multiple benefits.  There are a few overlaps with Parks and Rec, and I also have an urban planning background.  You can reach me at janacarpconsulting@gmail.com.

That's awesome, Jana! Sorry I didn't think of you earlier - you would be a great point of contact for Marisa!

I've emailed her some community conversation docs - maybe you can look at a collaboration? That would be wild!