Blogs

Right-wing politicians are attacking programs and policies that support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts at colleges and universities (and ultimately, all levels of education) in the United States. This should concern Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) proponents, because diversity, equity, and inclusion are fundamental values of ABCD. The concepts are critical to effecting positive change in communities of all sizes.

ABCD is an effective strategy for community improvement because:

1. ABCD not only believes that every community resident can contribute to community-building, but that their contributions complement the skills and talents of others in the community and can be leveraged by connecting them with the capacities of residents from every conceivable background. ABCD values diversity.
2. The valued participation in community strengthening activities that is at the core of ABCD, can provide previously denied opportunities to improve the quality of life of marginalized members of the community. ABCD values equity.
3. Feeling welcomed, heard, and included in the creation of solutions to community challenges helps create the ability to implement capacity-driven results. ABCD values inclusion.

DEI critics have a zero-sum worldview. They believe if you have an opportunity, it means that they don’t; or if it’s fair to you it must be unfair to them. The fact is, however, that giving historically underrepresented groups opportunities does not mean less privilege for dominant groups. 

What Can You Do?

If you agree that this a dangerous direction for education to be heading here are a few things you can do:

1. ACT LOCALLY - Educate legislators about the value of DEI. Make sure they actually understand the policies they may blindly oppose.
   
   
2. CONTACT YOUR ALMA MATER – Ask if they are taking a stand to support students from historically underrepresented groups. If you support your institution financially with donations, ask that your gifts go to support DEI efforts.
   
   
3. PAY ATTENTION TO ANTI-DEI POLITICAL ACTIVITY & ORGANIZE – The Chronicle of Higher Education maintains a map of anti-DEI legislation. The NASPA website has an Anti-DEI Legislation Response and Resources page.

Hey y'all,

Does anyone have resource recommendations on ABCD and Early Childhood Literacy?

I'm flying out to NY to join some library leaders around this topic in a couple of weeks and haven't seen much over the years specifically speaking to ABCD and this topic.

Anything you can share would be much appreciated!   (Including materials that may include ABCD-related but not explicit examples, concepts or practices)

Thanks!

~ April

aprildoner@gmail.com

Hi all,

I've put together this ABCD Resource list, in part to help myself keep track of all the great resources, videos, etc. that are explicitly on ABCD or on parallel / aligned practices and ideas.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GE6afZoHUGQ1VyADXK9Vjbrp6_d5Ir24Um0JiRAIs_U/edit?usp=sharing

Wanted to share with everyone -- and also invite you to send me anything you think should be included!

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.

The Stewards of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute indicated that the development of a neighborhood culture is the new frontier for ABCD work. The following list is a result of their understanding of culture building activities that reach beyond the implementation of programs. The activities below do not each stand alone. They are the threads that together create a community fabric from which a culture will emerge.

What do your neighbors do together that creates an enduring culture?

1. Recognizing Significant Life Events

A. When someone dies? How does the block join in mourning and memorializing the
person and their neighborhood contributions?

B. When a baby is born into the neighborhood? How does the block join in recognizing
and celebrating?

2. Raising Children

A. How do families in the neighborhood play together? (Street games, organized
sports, music, dance, barbecues, etc.)

B. How do you identify and use the capacities and abilities of neighborhood young
people?

C. When children graduate from elementary, high school or college?

D. What does the neighborhood do to facilitate young people learning from the
knowledge of the adult residents?

3. Helping Your Neighbors

A. How do the neighbors encourage a tradition of local sharing? (Sharing food,
equipment, child support, advice etc.)

B. To grow food locally?

4. Using Special Skills and Capacities of Neighbors

A. How does the neighborhood identify the capacities that each neighbor has to
contribute to neighborhood improvement?

B. How do you identify and involve the connectors on your block?

5. Strengthening the Neighborhood

A. What do the neighbors do together for fun?

B. What are the activities that have increased neighbors’ sense of community and
experience of belonging?

6. Creating a Neighborhood Identity

A. How did your neighbors identify the geographic space that they feel is the boundary
where they are responsible for the well-being of people who live there?

B. How have your neighbors developed a tradition of greeting and talking to each other
when meeting on the street or across yards?

7. Insuring Inclusiveness

A. How does your neighborhood welcome new people?

B. How has your neighborhood found ways to recognize and celebrate the differences
among themselves? (Race, ethnicity, nationality, identity, gender, orientation etc.).

C. How do new neighbors learn about the community culture and how they can
participate?

ABCD is rooted in the belief that the capacities of community residents, leveraged with their collective relationships, can be organized to improve the quality of life of the community. Most people get the relationships part of this formula. They enjoy working with like-minded people, and understand the concept of "strength in numbers." They also understand the idea of capacities, or assets, as meaning the gifts, skills, and talents of all residents. The uncovering of the gifts of the hands, head, and heart is part of the appeal of asset mapping.

Capacity, however, seems to be more difficult for some folks to wrap their heads around. Community capacity, as it relates to community-building, is about producing desired results. Capacity is the ability to do something, to make something happen. 

We can get stuck thinking that we need some mysterious "critical mass" in order to achieve our goals. Sure, if you're looking at something that will be voted on, then you will need one more than 50% of the votes. For many small, but important projects, however, you can get positive results by connecting the capacities of small numbers of people. Achieving an ultimate goal often happens as a result of many tiny successes. If you are at 0, and your goal is 10, you don't necessarily need a plan to go from 1 to 10 in one giant step. Maybe the path to ten will be 2+8, or 4+6. 

Capacity has no magic number. Sometimes the assets two people is enough capacity. Other times you might need six people, or 41, or 13. Getting as many people as possible on board is nice, but getting just enough people to achieve a desired outcome is pretty good too.

Capacity also refers to the ability to understand something. The idea of community capacity suggests that there are multiple strategies to create community change, because different members of the community see issues from different perspectives. This is where capacity meets relationship. This is where ABCD is useful. ABCD reminds us to talk to the people on the margins. If your issue is homelessness, talk to homeless people to gain insight into possible solutions. If your challenges are in schools, ask students for ideas.

Don't get caught up in the numbers. You will find the capacity you require in the capacities you discover.

Journalists on duty everyday face extreme danger, including kidnapping, hostage-taking, offline and online harassment, intimidation, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention , torture and at the extreme being murdered.

In Uganda, the Press Freedom Index Report of 2021 by the Human Rights Network for Journalists -HRNJ, recorded at least 131 cases of abuse or violations of rights of journalists.

For such reasons, Umbrella for Journalists in Kasese-UJK working with its partner Freedom House through the support of USAID are implementing “the protect and promote press freedom project” in the four district of-Kasese, Bunyangabu, Kabarole and Bundibugyo in the Rwenzori sub region.

Cardinal to this project is to enhance the  media freedoms and safety of journalists by providing emergency support to affected media practitioners in the Rwenzori      sub region and strengthening peer support networks      for collective promotion and protection of media freedoms.

https://ujk-ug.org/promoting-and-protecting-media-freedoms-every-journalists-responsibility/

I'd like to start with a story about digital assets in my small rural community during the start of COVID. Our community relies on tourism for much of our economy here. We are a busy place during the summer when we have lots of visitors, but during the school year, it's a very quiet, very remote community and it's a place where not everyone has access to high speed internet.

When our school closed at the beginning of COVID and students were studying and learning from home, some families didn't have access to internet service that was fast enough for zoom calls and video lessons, especially if they had multiple children. Then one of our local resort owners had an idea... He had high speed internet to serve the tourists who stayed in his cabins.  Since he didn't have any visitors, he offered his cabins with high speed internet to families who needed a place for their kids to study and still be safe from covid. A great use of a digital asset!

For a long time, I've been wondering if we should add a new asset to the six assets we identify through ABCD - digital assets. Are there some digital or technological assets that we are missing when we look at the six assets? Is there a benefit to having a specific category for digital assets? 

By digital assets, I am thinking about some of these questions (and more!):

• Is affordable (or free!), reliable high speed internet and/or cell reception available? at home, out in the community, and/or at specific community sites (e.g., libraries, coffee shops)
• Do community residents have access to purchasing or borrowing devices (phones, tablets, laptops,...)? Do schools give out tablets to students to use? Are there programs or funding sources that help get devices into the hands of people (example: getting cell phones to people who are unhoused)? Are there devices available in local places (coffee shops, libraries,...) that people can sign up to use or borrow?
• What about digital literacy in our community? Who are the people in my community who have the knowledge and skills to use technology? Don't forget the youth (native users of technology)! How are their skills/knowledge shared? Can they help others to learn? Is training available through my neighbors and/or through community organizations

Clearly there are other questions that could be asked. And then I came across this website that specifically talks about using asset mapping to identify the digital assets in our communities for the purpose of digital inclusion. I don't think this site is "perfect" from an ABCD perspective (it seems to rely heavily on local institutions for mapping the digital assets and misses out on the neighborhood residents having a key role in this) but I think it's a good start and provides food for thought. 

So what do you think? Do you routinely think about the digital assets of a community? Do you see value in identifying these assets as a separate category of asset? How do you think about mapping those digital assets? Do you think your answer is influenced by whether or not you are a native technology user? How does this all help us build stronger, more resilient communities? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I am excited to be in Johannesburg for this week as Prof Hanna Nel and myself get the next cohort of community practitioners going on the Certificate Programme in Community Development & ABCD at the University of Johannesburg! We have a great diverse group of government, NPO sector and private delegates, and the first 3-day Module kicks off tomorrow.