Below is a sample of ABCD Institute's most recent projects.
Chicago Public Library:
In May of 2023, the Chicago Public Library (CPL) partnered with the Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCDI) to train their staff on ABCD principles for CPLs biannual All Staff Institute Day (ASID.) Held at Harold Washington Library Center (HWLC), over 850 staff attended, including CPL administration, branch staff, truck drivers, and internally-facing staff. The goal of the partnership was for ABCDI to begin the conversation on how CPL staff can engage with communities in a more direct and meaningful way and ultimately get patrons back into the libraries post-pandemic.
Neighborhood Security Video Book:
The ABCD Institute received a grant from the Polk Brothers Foundation in 2020 to create a video series, Neighborhood Security: The Role of the Community and the Role of the Police. Video interviews were compiled into a “videobook” in which each of the seven video chapters is the story of how communities and neighborhoods have worked to increase security and decrease violence. Each story is told by a person involved in the initiative and there are two kinds of stories. The first describes how local residents have used their own neighborhood resources to increase local security. The second kind involves police officials who have used their position to support
neighborhood efforts to increase security.
IMLS Community Catalyst Grant:
In 2018 the ABCD Institute received a $669,000 three-year grant from IMLS. Through this Community Catalyst Initiative, ABCD consultants have trained, supported, and learned alongside 14 on-the-ground recipients of IMLS grant funding around the unique opportunities and challenges facing libraries, museums, and their communities as they mobilize local assets and resident-led solutions to creating positive, community driven change.
In 2017, the ABCD Institute partnered with the DePaul University Steans Center to implement a $575,000 grant from Institute of Library and Museum Services (IMLS) to implement a 2.5-year developmental evaluation process to identify lessons learned by twelve grant awardees made up of libraries and museums around the country. Grant products focused on frameworks and methodologies that the library and museum fields could use to better collaborate with their communities.
Chicago Police Department NPO Pilot Project:
The ABCD Institute partnered with the Egan Office of Urban Education and Community Partnerships at DePaul in late 2019 to offer community engagement certificates to a pilot project at the Chicago Police Department for neighborhood policing officers (NPO). ABCDI co-created a curriculum with Crossroads Anti-Racism Training Organization and the Technology of Participation facilitation methods to support these officers in having a new relationship to understanding and engaging the community members they were working with.
ABCD has partnered with hundreds of organizations through the years to provide training and build their capacity in the arena of community engagement and co-creation.
Contact us to learn more about partnering with our team.