Getting to Know Your Friends & Neighbors:

1. Getting to Know Your Friends & Neighbors: Identifying and Connecting with Local Community Assets Presentation & Workshop for the CYFAR Diversity-Multi-Needs Curriculum

2. The Dilemma . . . People and Communities have deficiencies & needs Individuals and Communities have skills and talents

3. Understanding Needs • A “need” is defined as a gap or difference between a current situation (what is) and the desired or preferred results (how we want things to be) What Is? What is Desired? A B A Need “Gap Between A & B”

4. What is a NeedsAssessment? • A formal tool that involves the identification of gaps • Placing gaps in some type of priority order • Making decisions on which needs call for the attention and resources of a community

5. Needs vs. Assets

6. Start with Capacity-Development • Community development--focus within the community -- on the very people and organizations located there • Key first step -- map the capacities, skills, and assets of local citizens and organizations • Local strengths -- collaboratively address issues of importance to the community

7. Features of Asset-Mapping • Asset-Based: Uncovers talents/skills found in the community right now • Internally Focused: Relies on the community’s strengths, not on resources found outside of it • Relationship Driven: Seeks to build linkages among local people, institutions, and organizations

8. The Three Key Arenas for Uncovering Community Assets People Formal Institutions Informal Organizations

9. Asset Mapping BeginsWith People • Everyone has talents, skills and gifts relevant to community activities • Each time a person uses his/her talents, the community is stronger and the person more empowered • Strong communities value and use the skills that members possess • Such an approach contributes to the development “of” the community

10. Mapping the Assets of Individuals: Four Components of Doing a “Capacity Inventory” • Skills Information • Community Skills • Enterprising Interests and Experiences • Personal Information

11. Skills Information:Ask People to . . . PEOPLE • List all skills learned at home, in the community, or at the workplace • Determine the best skills that they feel they possess • Embrace these skills as the very foundation of community building

12. Community Skills PEOPLE • Identify the various type of community activities the individual has participated in • Assess the kind of community work the person would be willing to do in the future • This kind of information serves as the “raw material” for community building

13. Personal Information PEOPLE • Collect a modest amount of information on each person in order to allow follow-up as needed • Name • Address • Phone • Age • Gender

14. Mapping Local Formal Institutions INSTITUTIONS • Every community has institutions that carry out important community functions • These are persistent, on-going activities that meet the social needs of local residents • The vitality of communities is dependent on these functions being carried out • So what are these major institutions? Just remember the word KEEPRA !!

15. Community Institutions Kinship Economic Education Religious Political Associations

16. Capturing Local Institutions for Community Building INSTITUTIONS • Every community has a variety of public, private, and not-for-profit formal institutions • Some communities are “institution rich” -- others are not • Too often, local institutions are not connected to local community-building efforts

17. How to Capture Local Institutions INSTITUTIONS • Recognize that local institutions represent important assets to the community • Do an inventory of the institutions existing in the community • Identify the type of activities these institutions are engaged in; map their assets • Explore the type of links that can be built between these institutions, as well between them, local people and informal organizations • Seek the assistance of local institutions as conduits to resources outside the community

18. Facilities Materials and equipment Purchasing power Employment Courses Teachers Financial capacity Parent/adult involvement Youth & Students Volunteers Schools as an asset to the community: Some examples

19. Purchase locally Hire locally Provide training to coalition members Develop human resources Share meeting space Initiate local investment strategies (fundraising, micro-loan programs) Mobilize external resources Share audio-visual resources An Example . . . How Institutions Can Help Build Their Community

20. Hospital Health Department Extension Service Local Physicians Promotoras Natural Healers School Nurses Parrish Clinic Wellness Centers Natural Helpers Mental Health Peer Educators & Counselors Another example—Health Care

21. Grassroots Organizations: Another Vital Resource • Every community has people who work together to pursue some common goal • These organizations may be formal or informal (example: some may not have officers or by-laws yet are active in their neighborhoods) • Often carry out three key roles: • decide to address an issue/problem of common interest • develop a plan to address the issue • carry out the plan to resolve the problem

22. Grassroots Organizations: Another Vital Resource • They may be neighborhood-based, community-based, network-based, or may extend outside the community’s boundaries • Such groups are critical because they involve, empower, and impact local citizens • Building a community requires a deliberate effort to identify and involve such groups and contacts

23. Some Examples of Informal Organizations • Church groups: stewardship committee, youth group, service group, prayer circle • Community celebrations: annual fair, art and crafts Festival, July 4th Parade, fiestas • Neighborhood groups: crime watch, homeowner’s association, phone trees • Sports activities: bowling, basketball, soccer, fishing, baseball, walking clubs

24. Doing an Inventory of Local Informal Organizations • Examine printed materials • Newspapers • Community directories • Church newsletters • Contact local institutions • Schools • Health clinics • Parks and recreation • Libraries • Neighborhood centers • Contact individuals who seem to know what is going on in their community or neighborhoods • Find out the activities of these informal groups

25. Putting it All Together: The Key Steps to Community Enhancement • Map the assets of individuals, institutions and informal organizations • Build relationships among these local assets • Explore how assets can be mobilized to improve local condition/needs (such as expanding job opportunities, improving health care/education) • Engage the community in visioning and planning • Tap outside resources that help advance local improvement efforts

26. Uncovering PotentialLeaders & Partners • Every community has visible and invisible groups of individuals who perform leadership roles • They have modest involvement in community-related activities, and their experiences are building blocks for expanding the pool of leaders and resources in the community

27. The Three Key Arenas for Uncovering Community Assets People Formal Institutions Informal Organizations

28. We’re Good… We’re very, very good !

29. Presentation and Workshop Prepared by: Gae Broadwater State Specialist for Community Resource Development Cooperative Extension Program Kentucky State University 400 East Main Street Frankfort, KY 40601 502-597-6325 gbroadwater@gwmail.kysu.edu Adapted from presentation prepared by: Lionel J. (Bo) Beaulieu Southern Rural Development Center Mississippi State University September 2000