New Publications added to the ABCD Institute website, Improving Health Equity through ABCD and Using Data to Tell Your Community's Story are ABCD workbooks co-authored by Darryl Answer and Ron Dwyer-Voss for Data Across Sectors for Health (DASH). These two publications are also now available in Spanish, Click here to access them.
Contact Kim Hopes at connect@abcdinstitute.org with any questions.

Hi ABCD In Action members,

Would you like to host an ABCD Global Gathering on a particular topic? These are conversations on Zoom for people to come together to talk about topics and questions they care about. Do you have ideas for future Gatherings? Let us know and we will help you get started.

• Come up with a topic and choose a date and time.
• Post it on the events calendar
  • Click on the “Events" tab on your profile page and then click “+” to the right of the word “Events”
  • Fill out the form and submit
• Reach out to Kim or Dharmik at the ABCD Institute (admin@abcdinstitute.org) if you need access to a Zoom link for your call.

A new report released by the Asset-Based Community Development Institute outlines strategies for reducing polarization at the neighborhood level. The report, entitled "Bridging the Divide: Strategies for Reducing Polarization at the Neighborhood Level" is the result of discussions between members of the institute and provides an overview of the various approaches that can be employed in order to reduce the increasing levels of polarization in many communities. The report provides an invaluable resource for any group looking to tackle the issue of polarization. It will be a sought-after tool for anyone wanting to promote understanding and collaboration within a local community.

View the document on the ABCD website.

ABCD Institute Steward Jennifer Hirsch and Director of Serve-Learn-Sustain at Georgia Institute of Technology would love to see someone with and ABCD orientation fill this position.

In support of the Georgia Tech Strategic Plan, which reemphasized and recommitted the Institute to sustainability in service to people and the communities in which they live, the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) is seeking to hire a leader that will help foster growth at Georgia Tech in community-engaged sustainability research. The Community-Engaged Research Director (CERD) will serve the academic and research faculty of Georgia Tech focused on sustainability, clean energy, public health, and social impact. This position directly supports the Institute’s research mission as it relates to the just, equitable, and sustainable development of communities, with an emphasis on, but not limited to, under-resourced communities in the state of Georgia and the surrounding Southeastern United States.

Working with Georgia Tech’s research community and other community engagement specialists, the Community-Engaged Research Director facilitates the development of research programs and projects that intentionally engage and benefit specific communities, and that are funded by local, state, or federal sponsors, foundations, etc. The Director works with investigators at Georgia Tech to understand their research and aspirations, and with communities to understand their assets, needs, and interests. They bring skills in both community engagement and research, and help facilitate and steward relationships among researchers and community partners. The position will be housed in the Brook Byers Institute of Sustainable Systems, serving as a key member of Georgia Tech’s sustainability research leadership team and collaborating closely with related interdisciplinary research institutes (IRIs), centers, and initiatives.

NEW LINK (UPDATED 4/3/23): Please see the following external link for job 256768.

https://careers.hprod.onehcm.usg.edu/psc/careers/CAREERS/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM_FL.HRS_CG_SEARCH_FL.GBL?Page=HRS_APP_JBPST_FL&Action=U&FOCUS=Applicant&SiteId=03000&JobOpeningId=256768&PostingSeq=1

Call for Papers for Themed Volume of Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement
Asset-based Community Development and Community-based Research: Compatible agents in equitable and sustainable change? 

Members of the ABCD Institute Higher Education Working Group are collaborating with the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and urbanCORE at UNC Charlotte on a themed volume of the Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement focused on ABCD practices. The journal will publish in December 2023.

UTS and UNC Charlotte are co-editors of the journal. Working Group participants Mark Chupp and Jennifer Hirsch are guest editors for this special edition. Our colleague Byron White, from UNC Charlotte, sits on the journal's editorial committee.

Please consider contributing! A special invitation is being extended to practitioners, leaders, activists and community members to submit short pieces using experimental approaches, such as first-person perspectives or group-based contributions, and various forms of media, including videos.

Authors interested in participating in this special issue must submit a short proposal (up to 500 words) by January 9, 2022.

For more information, timeline, and to submit  | Find Call for Papers pdf here

The journal and its editors want to support writers who would like to collaborate on the writing process. We have set up a simple Google Doc for those interesting in collaboration to find each other. Feel free to fill out for other potential collaborators to find you and you to find them.

The ABCD Institute Faith Working Group is interested in capturing stories where faith communities or faith-based groups have mobilized their own resources and/or effectively leveraged resources to make something positive happen in community life.  We believe that faith communities are strong players in community life – we are looking for stories that reflect that fact.  We need your help.

A 2002 ABCD publication, Asset Based Strategies for Faith Communities (available for free via  download  on ABCD website) shared examples and some common aspects.  We want to  identify current, wider ranging stories for review and possible publication. We are looking for examples, and we will follow up on stories that hold potential because they reflect ABCD principles and values.  We are interested in faith stories from diverse faith traditions around the world.

If you have such a story, or if you have heard of a faith-focused story that we should follow up on, please let us know in a paragraph or two by telling us what happened, who did it and what were the results.  

Please send your stories or other information by December 1st to:  Kim Hopes (KHOPES@depaul.edu).  Please provide full contact information (name, phone, email, location).

For further information, contact Mary Nelson (drmarynelson@gmail.com (773) 551-3135.