Forum Activity for @april-doner

Does a community have to have a physical location for me to apply ABCD principles.

ABCD - Getting Started/Challenges

Hi Eric,

This is a great question and I'm happy to connect with you as I'm also part of a somewhat 'locationnless' that is trying to apply ABCD. Mine is called Uprise Art Collective and is a network of artists of all genres (including music) in Sarasota, FL. Our groups seem to have a similar 'glue' which is the love of our creative craft/outlet and the desire to pursue that love in the company of others.

Regarding your question, I'd say definitely YES! You can apply ABCD within an organization without being tied to one location.

I'd highly recommend checking out Deb Puntenney's book (which you can get via pdf here:http://www.abcdinstitute.org/docs/CFWText.pdf). It's all about how to apply ABCD in organizations.

And in my OWN experience, I've found it's about making time and getting others in your group excited about finding out what the assets, gifts, talents and interests of your members are and then figuring out how to use those to get where you're trying to go as an organization. And sometimes the interests of members can help determine where you want to go!

One thing you could do is team up with others in your group who resonate with the ABCD philosophy and discuss how you might go about using it in your group. Much of the stories we hear and 'models' for applying ABCD came from just that 'formula' -- every group is different and local innovation is the heart and soul of ABCD. You will probably find it useful to undertake some kind of asset mapping process. I'd suggest two other publications that are my favorite for that:

A Guide to Capacity Inventories

http://www.abcdinstitute.org/docs/CapacityInventories(1).pdf

Discovering Community Power: A Guide to Mobilizing Local Assets and Your Organizations Capacity

http://www.abcdinstitute.org/docs/kelloggabcd.pdf

Is that helpful?

Please keep us posted on your adventures in this!

Hmm... I'm sorry Jon I have no idea! Will share with some friends and see... Thanks for this good question!

Warmly

April

Investing in local community development

ABCD and Funding

This is a good question. I imagine there's some pretty standard ways it could be done, like donating to nonprofit development programs, but from an ABCD perspective a few things come to mind, for me:

- In my experience, a lot of community development programs focus primarily on top-down, institution-oriented strategies. You could research local ones and try to determine which are being innovative about acting in support of citizen initiatives, investing directly in citizens (ie. do they think of creative ways to purchase, celebrate, or otherwise connect with what small business owners or entrepreneurs are creating in their own neighborhood?)? Do they come up with their strategies in partnership with citizens, with citizens at the table in authentic leadership roles (ie. not 'giving input' but actually making decisions alongside them)?

Additionally, you might check out what citizen associations are active in your community. That can be a little more challenging to locate than your community development org, but might be worth it... there might be some kind of alliance or faith-based initiatives that contribute greatly to the community but are not broadly advertised.. and there are probably opportunities for donation there as well.

That's all my ideas for now... Would love to hear others'!

-A

Asset Mapping

Asset Mapping & Gift Inventories

Great background!!! And I appreciate so much your description of the lens you're using and the way you're naturally sharing and sparking inspiration with your neighbors.

I'd recommend these publications -

A Guide to Capacity Inventories: Mobilizing the Community Skills of Local Residents (downloadable!)

A Guide to Mapping Local Business Assets and Mobilizing Local Business Capacities

Community Transformation: Turning Threats into Opportunities

and also - i'd throw this in too:

http://www.abcdinstitute.org/docs/VoluntaryAssociations.pdf (not as much a guide as showing the potential for associations -- formal and informal -- to contribute tons to real neighborhood change beyond what they're already doing [which is also often under appreciated])

I look forward to hearing how it goes using these tools! One of the main things I've gotten from these materials and from working with other ABCD folks is that so much of it is about using the underlying philosophy in your own unique place and time and trusting your creativity. The first workbook has very valuable "Do's" and "Don'ts", useful learning from folks who've done it already. BUT the main body is simply examples of questions and processes different places have come up with. So it sounds like you are already very far along, because you have the most important ingredient already -- neighbors excited about the possibilities and eager to know the assets!

Please keep me/us posted.

I'd like to share some more about my own local project, thanks for inspiring me to do so

-April

p.s. it's so neat we're sharing this great stuff across continents!

Asset Mapping

Asset Mapping & Gift Inventories

Hi Dave,

This sound really interesting -- what's the story behind your project? I'm very curious and also, it would help me recommend those three -- ie. who are you working with, what kind of organization are you doing this through, if any, and what is the goal of your project? Also what are the major challenges being faced by this community?

-A

Asset Mapping

Asset Mapping & Gift Inventories

Hi Dave,

Sounds exciting!

I'd highly recommend getting these workbooks -- I used it a lot in designing a neighborhood initiative in my community at the last place I worked.

http://www.abcdinstitute.org/publications/workbooks/

They're all good, for general purposes I usually referred to this one which is actually down-loadable in PDF (yay!)

http://www.abcdinstitute.org/docs/CapacityInventories(1).pdf

My favorite basic questions are always the open-ended

- Gifts of the Hands -- things you can do like sewing, woodwork, art, cooking

- Gifts of the Head -- things you know a lot about

- Gifts of the Heart -- things you care about deeply such as children, the elderly, etc.

- Which if any of these gifts have you ever wanted to turn into a business?

- What groups are you a part of?

- What's your dream for this community and which of your gifts would you most like to give toward making it real?

I'd love to hear more about your project, what you try and learn and what happens. I hope this helps!

-April Doner,

Sarasota, FL

Dave has a great point!

I'd also recommend stories -- workbooks on ABCD publications site have some great stories, and From Clients to Citizens book has wonderful ones as well. I've also been trying to hunt down more 'statistics' but it seems most ABCD projects either prioritize action and execution over documentation, or we just need to get more organized so what folks have documented is flowing more freely among us!

http://www.abcdinstitute.org/docs/CapacityInventories(1).pdf

One final thought -- there's an elegance and a basic logic to the ABCD method that, if you are inspired by it, I'm willing to bet you're also great at expressing effectively if you work to find your own way. Why does it make sense to you? What of your own personal stories back it up?

ABCD and Faith Communities

ABCD and Faith Communities

De'Amon's the man!!! And you too Mike. Sorry, this is a totally non-substantial answer but just gotta shout out my love for you guys and Broadway. Hope to visit and learn some more again soon!!!

Great Case Studies or Statistics to support ABCD?

Data, Evaluation, and Research

Wow, thank you so much Allison. I look forward to looking through them. Are there any in that list you feel have a particularly 'convincing' statistical story within?

Great Case Studies or Statistics to support ABCD?

Data, Evaluation, and Research

Great! Thank you so much Dan, I will look into it. Sorry I'm a bit late in replying!