NEW Call for Submissions to Present & Invitation to Participate 
ABCD Institute Higher Education Story Sharing Series

Presentations from September through December, 2022

3rd Tuesday, 11AM CST (1 to 1.5 hours). Time may be adjusted for international presenters

Overview
Since January 2022, The Asset-Based Community Development Institute has hosted a series of free virtual story sharing sessions on "ABCD in Higher Education." The series showcases 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. 

Past event have focused on grant writing, racial equity, neighborhood partnerships, fiscal sponsorship and  asset and network mapping, This has been a wonderful platform to meet others using or interested in learning about ABCD in a higher education arena. Visit our YouTube page for recordings.

Stories - along with associated tools and resources - will 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.

Call for Submissions for September through December
We are pleased to announce that this series will continue past July with a new call for submissions and we particularly want to extend an invitation to those from outside the U.S. to share your stories as well.

We invite faculty, staff, and students to submit stories for consideration - stories that you are particularly proud of or that you are trying to work through. Each story session will feature one story and will last 1-1.5 hours. Sessions will be facilitated by a member of the ABCD in Higher Education Work Group and will be recorded, if storytellers agree, so that links can be included in the publication.  

To submit an application to be a presenter please use this Application Form

DEADLINE for SUBMISSION: October 1, 2022

Accepted applicants will be notified by October 15, 2022.

Contact Kim Hopes at khopes@depaul.edu with any questions.

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.