Forum Activity for @april-doner

Hey all!

I've been SO impressed with the passion and predisposition for ABCD work within this community of professionals after having had the pleasure of working with library staff and leaders across the country for the past few years.

Please share your own story of working with ABCD as a library staff or a library partner/collaborator. Some things you could share:

- How did you connect with ABCD to begin with?

- What did you do or are you doing? What resources really inspired you or have you created?

- What have you learned? What advice would you give others from libraries seeking to apply ABCD?

Here are two stories from libraries I have worked with:

Oak Park Public Library partnered with a local educational organization and Triton College around a tutoring program to address differences in educational outcomes based on race. After the team encountered ABCD, they shifted their project to focus much more on the gifts and talents of young people, parents and community members with really impressive results!  https://www.imls.gov/sites/default/files/triton_college_and_oak_park_library_journey_map.pdf

The Free Library of Philadelphia launched a 2-year engagement program that invests in residents as ambassadors and consultants working to identify their own community's strengths and priorities and build upon those. https://www.swglobetimes.com/library-partnership-catalyzing-a-community-led-future/

These both have come out of the IMLS Community Catalyst Initiative that me and a team of other ABCD coaches have been working on:  https://www.imls.gov/our-work/community-catalyst-initiative

(I've also enjoyed the stories from this resource -- it was written some time ago but I think the lessons are still really relevant! https://www.urbanlibraries.org/assets/Engaged_Library_Full_Report.pdf)

P.S. Any thoughts on how this might be done virtually right now for safety reasons? (obviously, I'd think in-person is probably best when it's safe!)

I love this Joel! Deb W shared this with our work team and I'm excited to share it with a group of libraries and museums we work with who've been trying out asset mapping in various ways. I love how you've made this so practical and straightforward. Thank you!!

David, were we on a webinar together last month?!

Thank you! This is very interesting. I am curious what the story is behind you developing this particular program, as well as the choice of the name "Deadly ABCD"? It's very striking and I'm super curious about the meaning behind it!

Hi friends!

I've had the opportunity to work with some other ABCD folks to package a tool that some practitioners and consultants have used to create space and steps for thinking about where power currently resides in relationship to one's organization, project, group or idea.

This is currently a draft format and I'd love to get your feedback on it! Especially: how clear are the instructions; what other info would help you use it or encourage others to use it; general feedback including how useful you'd find this tool overall. Also if you've done power ladder processes, any variations, lessons or stories of your own practice with this?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z1B2ixlbmoRy6cCID4fZ_rfWTVY8ecEF/view?usp=sharing

Resident Power Ladder In-Person Exercise_Facilitator's Guide_6.2019.pdf - 507KB

How cool! Thanks so much for sharing this Michelle. I think it would be great if you could share additional information here!

Thank you so much Ivis!!!

I'm happy to hear you think the graphic makes sense. 

The purple shape is, indeed, meant to represent stories. I was looking for something that would be (a) not to hard for anyone to draw and (b) capture how stories are something that are both connected to and can serve to CONNECT all of the other kinds of local assets.... hopefully without making the overall map look too messy!

Hi all,

 Storytelling & ABCD Graphic.JPG - 950KB

What I see so far happening in my community (at this moment, in my sphere) is a mural project that's been geared toward youth but is open to people of all ages. There's high school kids as well as older 20-something youth, on up to adults in their 40's and older. Together we're learning about art technique as it relates to making a giant mural on the side of a police station, and pretty soon we'll get into the actual composition. (I'm excited to grapple together with questions already put out there--how do we represent the local community around this location when we are but a small segment, some of us not from here? What kind of message do we want to convey?) This learning and thinking and doing together as equals creates a lovely space and reminds me how much I don't end up being around people much younger than myself in my everyday life, and how much I miss that kind of interaction.

How this particular activity might be transformed into more powerful social justice youth organizing work? If the conversation was connected to the concept of making change in other spheres perhaps, or if it became a starting point for youth and others to think forward to what kind of art we could create together that could help achieve a shared vision we have for our community? What's in the way of that happening... is perhaps most participants' being used to following the lead of the activity organizer--whether we're coming there from high-school which is hyper-programmed-by-adults (usually) or from organizations where we might have some more freedom to help shape a collective process, but aren't accustomed to transferring that way of thinking into a more ambiguous community setting (and so, we too end up following primarily the lead of the facilitator).. and, of course, there's the way the program itself is shaped, by the facilitator and perhaps influenced by whoever's paying him...

Good question. Eager to hear others' experiences and insights.

Thanks Ron!

(What are YOUR answers? I always love hearing your own stories of youth engagement.)

-April