Description: An ABCD case study on an innovative program that sought to overcome the barriers between a private urban university and adjacent neighborhoods that have been historically oppressed. Foundations of Community Building brought university faculty and staff, community-based organizations, and neighborhood residents together to develop capacity as community builders, and build relationships of trust between campus and community. This led to Case Western Reserve University establishing its first Neighborhood Advisory Council in 2021. In this session, we will share what we learned, as well as best practices in ABCD and ongoing challenges in our efforts to strive toward authentic university-community engagement.

Presenters:
Mark Chupp, PhD, Case Western Reserve University
Gwendolyn Garth, Cleveland Artist, Activist and Neighborhood Advisory Council Member
Julian Rogers, Case Western Reserve University
JP Graulty, Case Western Reserve University

Facilitator: Jennifer Hirsch, Georgia Tech University

To register for this free event please visit our Eventbrite page.

Overview

Between January and May 2022, The ABCD Institute will host a series of virtual story sharing sessions on "ABCD in Higher Education." The series will showcase examples of how faculty, staff, and students at universities and colleges are intentionally doing - or trying to do - their work using an asset- or strengths-based approach, within their institutions or in their work with community partners.

Stories might include programs, initiatives, or short-term projects that illuminate successes and challenges. This is not limited to best practices and could include efforts that have been difficult at best.

Stories - along with associated tools and resources - will then be compiled and shared through an ABCD Institute publication, edited by the ABCD in Higher Education Work Group. All storytellers and session participants will be invited to join the work group moving forward.

About the ABCD Institute

The ABCD Institute is a nonprofit organization located in Chicago at DePaul University’s Irwin W. Steans Center. The Institute’s origins go back to the early 1990’s when John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann published their best selling community development book, Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Towards Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets. Their original research at Northwestern University in Evanston Illinois began a global movement to shift  the lens through which communities were often viewed - from broken places to places of possibility. The stories of local change they discovered was happening under the radar and their analysis of how it was happening changed the understanding of community building. The ABCD Institute 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.

The ABCD Higher Ed working group is a work group of the ABCD Institute that focuses on promoting the use of ABCD principles within the context of higher education with particular emphasis on how universities can be assets to their local communities.