AN INTRODUCTION TO Asset Based Principles for Community

AN INTRODUCTION TO Asset Based Principles for Community Disaster Recovery and Resilience Keith Adams

An ASSET BASED Approach to Disaster Recovery is centered around the belief that INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, AND COMMUNITIES have the gifts they need to address the needs they see around them.

Gifts are more than talents. Gifts include our interests, motivations, styles, bodies, values, passions, hopes, dreams and life journeys. There is no hierarchy of gifts. No gift is more important than another. CORE VALUES & BELIEFS

A gifted community is greater than the sum of its parts. We recognize that we are a community of believers that needs each other not only to supplement the variety of gifts but also to help release each others gifts fully. Each individual, organization, and community exists in a particular context that necessitates an approach based in a particularized, situational, and systemic understanding of gifts and discernment. CORE VALUES & BELIEFS

DEVELOPING A NEW WAY OF THINKING

Traditionally, community recovery has been based on needs. NEEDS BASED APPROACH • TENDS TO START WITH EXTERNAL ORGANIZATIONS OR EXPERTS ASSESSING • EXPERTS BUILD DETAILED IMAGES OF DEPRIVATION AND SOCIAL BREAKDOWN • IMAGES OFTEN BECOME STARTING POINT.

SIGNIFICANT CONSEQUENCES OF NEEDS ASSESSMENT “Experts” shape perceptions, determine targets and solutions. • Focus on “fixing” people through a program. • Develops a “client” mentality. May come to believe that they are incapable of taking charge of their own future. • Often fails to achieve sustainable transformation. •

ASSET BASED PROJECTS FOCUS ON A COMMUNITY’S STRENGTHS AND RESOURCES • Start with individuals and organizations discerning assets and capacities already present • Builds image of strength and resources • Connected assets mobilized to build up and strengthen the life of the community.

SUSTAINABLE CHANGE ONLY OCCURS WHEN PEOPLE ARE COMMITTED TO INVESTING THEIR OWN RESOURCES TO ACHIEVE IT. The Key is locating all the available assets and begin connecting them in ways that multiply their power and effectiveness.

THE ACT OF DISCOVERING, IDENTIFYING AND CONNECTING PEOPLE’S ASSETS CHANGES THE WAY THAT INDIVIDUALS VIEW THEMSELVES AND THOSE AROUND THEM. INSTEAD OF SEEING THEMSELVES AS ‘NEEDY’ OR ‘DEPRIVED’, THEY BEGIN TO BELIEVE IN THEIR OWN POTENTIAL TO MAKE THEIR COMMUNITY A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE.

BASIC ABCD FINDINGS In every story, neighbors know about the local assets. Successful neighborhood action is the result of assets that were not connected being connected. To connect assets there must be a connector, i. e. individuals, associations or local institutions.

fts i s/G t es r te n I ls/ l i Sk s up ro G “ I work part time at the Library, go to church, and shop a the book store downtown” My Assets y M “I am a retired school teacher who has a passion for teaching kids to read” “ I belong to the Tx. EA, the Friends of the Rockport Library, and am a parishioner at St. Mary’s Church” My Places Asset Mapping

COMMUNITY ASSETS MAP Business Churches/ Houses of Worship Local INSTITUTIONS Citizens’ Associations Schools Youth Neighborhoods Income Gifts of INDIVIDUALS Library Artists Parks Labeled People Older Adults Hospitals Performing Arts Community Colleges

Our Assets/Gifts Community Challenges Members who have experience with addiction Latchkey children/ Few after-school programs Homework Help Program Hunger Addiction AA and Al Anon Meetings Community Dinners/Feeding Program/Food Pantry Opportunities Meeting Rooms Classroom Space Retired Educators Kitchen Relationships with Food Bank