Join us for our September 2022 Storytelling Session

Description:

Cooperative Extension is a core part of the land grant mission of higher education dedicated to·providing research-based information to their state for over 100 years through non-formal education. Extension uplifts and supports the agricultural mission of our nation and the well-being of people, particularly in rural America, Cooperative Extension is a national network of education and outreach centered on agriculture; family and consumer sciences; 4-H youth development; and community and economic development.  

Join a shared conversation about how asset-based community development principles and practices build on the community and economic development through two Cooperative Extensions. 

Stories Shared: 

• How rural counties throughout Arkansas are applying ABCD as a framework for the work of community, workforce, and economic development. 
• How a Historically Black College and University in rural Ohio is using ABCD as a relationship-centric approach to Extension’s community and economic development outreach. 

Presenters:
Dr. Hunter Goodman, Assistant Professor, Community, Workforce, and Economic Development, University of Arkansas-Cooperative Extension

Mr. Eric Smith, Community Economic Development Extension Regional Educator, Central State University 

Facilitator:
Daren Ellerbee, Director, Educational Outreach Center, University of Pittsburgh

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

Visit our YouTube channel to view recordings of all the stories in the series 

About the Series

The ABCD Institute Higher Education working group is pleased to host a series of 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.

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 workgroup 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 1990s 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 were 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 draw 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.

Upcoming Sessions: 

Sign up for ABCD Institute event announcement list to receive information about future events.