The key to exegeting the city/community is to gain an understanding and perspective of the community from those living and serving in the targeted area. The study can entail a comprehensive approach from a historical to present day understanding of the targeted area within the city. The approach chosen can be as comprehensive or simple according to the need and information desired. The research can be as simple as walking through the community and talking with people on the streets, in the stores, and other places of gathering. The approach can also be comprehensive including data gathering and broad range of information collection.

As you go through the various questions work to include people in the city/community to participate in your search. Spend time interviewing residence and those invested in the community in order to gain their perspective. Look to interview people who are the historians of the city/community learn from them.
The approach includes the four levels of learning about the community: inspirational, informational, incarnational, and involvement. Depending on the desired outcomes, the approach is designed with various emphasis upon the four levels.

Inspirational approach is taking time to walk the community in a prayerful, meditative, and reflective posture. The key to this approach is to be prayerful and observational. Look around you as you walk into the targeted area. What do you see? How does it speak to you? Take note of the impressions that you have. At the same time be prayerful, ask God to give you wisdom and discernment about what you are viewing and experiencing. Use this time to listen to the impressions of God’s Spirit. How are you sensing God at work in the area?

A community assessment is an exercise by which a collaborative partnership gathers information on the current strengths, concerns, and conditions of children, families, and the community. The information comes from many sources–especially parents and family members–and is elicited by many techniques, including interviews, focus groups, and scanning demographic data collected by local agencies. Because many types of partners participate in a community assessment–strategic planners, program staff, administrators, teachers, parents, and other community members–the resulting information is broad, accurate, and useful.

Community assessments focus on local assets, resources, and activities as well as gaps, barriers, or emerging needs. The process of identifying and appraising this information will help your collaborative partnership:

- clearly understand the context in which families live and the issues families want to address;
- locate hidden strengths or underutilized resources that could be developed;
- determine which resources could contribute to comprehensive strategies, and in what way;
- design effective, collaborative strategies that engage children and families because they respond to real and important conditions; and
- empower families and community members by giving them a role in designing and implementing the strategies.

The process of conducting a community assessment involves (1) scanning the community to locate existing information, (2) developing a family focus, (3) identifying community assets and the degree to which they are accessible to the people who can benefit from them, and (4) analyzing the information obtained through the first three steps. This chapter outlines each of these stages. ——

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/css/ppt/chap2.htm

Informational approach is gaining the data and factual information about the area. The main skill for this is research. Through research discover the facts and information about the area. In addition study the history of the area including how it was created.

Incarnational approach is face to face encounters with stakeholders, residents, business owners, government personnel. The approach is to be in the community with those who are connected to the community to gain an understanding of the community from their perspective. Key: what is being said about the community at the “street level”?

Involvement approach is gaining an understanding of the community by getting involved in the life of the community. This can be accomplished by living in the community, working in the community, volunteering in the community, and/or simply spending time in the community.

Getting Started: A good place to begin exegeting the community is to search and read about the history of the targeted area. Also gather the statistic that you can acquire to gain a better understanding of the area. Take time to drive and walk the city/community to gain a personal perspective. In this effort spend time walking the streets, eating in the restaurants, visiting events, going into businesses, visiting schools, and visiting public buildings and social service organizations. Also engage in prayer-walkers through the community praying for residents, for understanding and discerning the community, and for the future of the community.

As you walk the community be prepared to talk with people that come across your path. The key outcome is to learn from those in the community. Be careful not to have an agenda, such as inviting someone to a church service or an event. As you enter into the community and conversations this is not a time for you to be promoting what you are interested in or what you want to do. Take on the posture of a learner and present yourself as interested in learning from those you encounter. (Appendix A: Interviewing in the community)

The types of encounters that you will enter into are intentional and unintentional. These types of unintentional encounters are known as “random encounters.” Often you will find these encounters God ordained. They could possibly lead to long term community relationships. The unintentional encounters occur as you are in the community and meet people. As you meet people seek permission and time to talk with them to gain their understanding and perspective of the community. If possible do not take notes, simply listen. After the encounter you may want to write down what you have learned from the conversation.

Besides random encounters, you will want to intentionally schedule meetings with people identified as individuals that would be beneficial to talk to and learn about the city/community. This list of names is developed through research of the city and by referrals from those you talk with. Often you will want to talk with people from the various sectors of the community such as government, business, non profit, religious, and education. As you meet with people have a list of questions and enter each encounter as a learner.

As you are learning about the community find was to be involved in the community. If you are living in the area, there are natural ways a resident is part of the community life. One of the ways to be involved is to volunteer in organizations such as a hospital, non-profit organization, religious community, neighborhood association, or some other community entity.

Strategy in Exegeting the Community :

Research and study the history of your city (neighborhood). As you do the research you will look to gain an understanding of the city in general and the targeted community specifically.

Consideration 1: Understanding the History of the city:

How was the community started? What were the influences in the development of the community?
What are the major historical influences?
What are the significant events in the development of the city?
What is the identity of the city? What is the city known for?
How has the history of the city influenced its present situation?
What has influenced the growth and decline of the community?
From a historical perspective study the population, business, educational, political, and religious trends.

Consideration 2: Physical, Social, Governmental Aspects of the city

Research the demographics of the city/neighborhood: o population, poverty, ethnicity, economics, housing, businesses, crime rates,
- How is the city divided? Districts/neighborhoods; what are their conditions
Study the city topography, buildings, traffic flow, and neighborhoods
What is the governing structures and decision making process o Who are the powerbrokers in the city?
- What are the leading businesses
- School System/ Colleges
Neighborhoods consider the social and economic composition, religious affiliations, occupations, ethnicities, populations, age distribution.
What are the social/health issues of the city/community

Consideration 3: Neighborhood of interest

General Information of the community

Areas and boundaries of the community
Ethnicities, groups, sub-groups of the community
Who are the major influencers, leaders
Business/manufacturing
Education/schools/universities
Hospitals and Healthcare
Organizations of city wide/regional influence
Churches
Service Agencies/Nonprofit Organizations
Identify criminal justice system
Housing
Recreation
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the community
What are the assets of the community
What are the felt-needs of the community?

Consideration 4: Faith Community

What faith traditions are represented in the neighborhood?
Who are the spiritual leaders in the community?
Check out the networks and partnerships

Consideration 5: Service Agencies/Nonprofit Organizations/Associations

What are the services offered in the neighborhood?
What are the opportunities?

Consideration 5: Interviews: (the focus you will want to keep is “how can I be a blessing to those I encounter)

(See Appendix A)

On the Street Interviews
Meeting with public officials
Meeting business sector
Meeting nonprofit sector
Meeting churches (pastors)
Community historian

Appendix A: On the streets interviews:

(the following questions are suggestions; be creative in asking questions that pertain directly to the person and the flow of the conversation)

Open the conversation by asking if you could talk with them about the community; you simply want to learn about their experience from living/working in the community. The flow of the conversations should typically be questions from general to specific. Try not to ask narrowly focused questions, instead ask questions that are open-ended.

Initially ask questions to understand the individual and their involvement in the neighborhood/community.

How long have you lived/worked here?
What attracted (drew, caused) you to move here?
What was the neighborhood like when you first moved in?
How has it changed?
What gets you excited about the neighborhood?
What is depressing about the neighborhood?

Next begin to gain their perspective of the community:

What are the strengthens/What do you like?
How would you describe the community?
What do you not like/what are the weaknesses?

Ask follow up questions to gain a clearer understanding and perspective

Ask community specific questions:

What do you see as the greatest needs of the community
What are the greatest concerns?
How would you describe the community
What are the top concerns of the neighborhood?
How are the churches involved in the community?
What ways have you benefited from the church being in the community?
What business, associations, or organizations have been a benefit to the community? Have been a determent to the community?
What would be important for me to know in order to better understand/get to know the community?

Thank the person for taking time to help get to know the neighborhood.

Official Interview:

State you objective for meeting and what you would like to learn from the person.
Focus on the following:

What is your role in the community?
What has your experience been?
What is your perspective of the community?
What would be important for me to know?
How do you view the community? Strengths/Weaknesses; Assets/Felt-needs
Identify organizations, business, neighborhoods that have been beneficial or detrimental to the community.
Close meeting with appreciation and a question of how you could be of assistance?

Appendix B

Useful Indicators for a Community Scan

Health Issues:

Immunization rates for young children
Percentage of babies with low birth weight
Rates of early prenatal care
Rates of births to single mothers under 18

Economic Conditions:

Poverty rates
Number of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches
Young adults in school or employed
Housing mobility rates

School Success:

Measurement of academic achievement
School attendance
School dropout and grade-retention rates
Graduation Rates

Family Issues:

Number of foster care placements
Number of families on child care waiting lists
Number of new and reopened Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) cases
Juvenile incarceration rates

Early Child Development:

Rates of Head Start and preschool participation
Percentage of children with special needs
Rates of adolescent parenting

Sources: Melaville & Blank with Asayesh (1993); Schorr, in Young, Gardner, Coley, Schorr, & Bruner (1994)

Appendix C

Models of Ministry Analysis Guide

By Ray Bakke

When you are in the process of exegeting a city and visiting organizations,

these are some questions you should be thinking about as you do so.

CONTEXT: What is the context? What is unique about this city? What is the surrounding community like?
HISTORY: What is the history? Where did the vision for this city come from? Who started it and how?
PROGRAM: What is the program? What are they doing? What is the program supposed to accomplish?
ORGANIZATION: How are they organized? How are the stockholders, stakeholders, staff, and customers related?
AUDIENCE: Who is the audience being reached by this ministry?
FINANCES: How do they finance the ministry? Where does the money come from? Who is the power behind the finances?
KNOWLEDGE/LEARNING: What would people have to know to be able to do this ministry? What are they learning and who is teaching them?
THEOLOGY: What is the theology that motivates this ministry? Who are the theologians bearing influence on this ministry?
STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: What is your evaluation of this model? What are the strengths and limits of this ministry?
TRANSFERRABLE CONCEPTS: What parts of this ministry could transfer to my context? How could knowledge about this program change my own ministry?

Appendix D

Tips for Taking Action:

Sample Questions for Focus Groups, Community Forums, and Interviews

What opportunities and services do families and children want most? Why do families want or need this service or resource?
What opportunities and services do agencies see as most important?
What attracts families to a service or resource?
What barriers keep families from finding or using services and opportunities?
Do any existing services meet families’ needs? (For example, health care, child care, job training, public transportation, GED preparation, after-school programs, etc.) If not, why not?
How do families and agencies describe the quality of services available?
What are families’ most positive–or negative–encounters with an agency that offers services?
If you (a family or service provider) could change one aspect of a program or service, what would it be and why?
What helps an agency to work effectively with families?
What barriers keep an agency from working effectively with families?
What experience do agencies have in collaborating with other agencies to work with families? What are the benefits of and barriers to working collaboratively?
What activities, policies, and procedures work well at your agency (for families, the agency you use)?
What opportunities exist to develop resources for children and families? What new opportunities should be explored?
What conditions in the community benefit families? What conditions make it more difficult for families to find solutions to their problems?

Source: Adapted from Melaville & Blank with Asayesh (1993)

Community Immersion

Too often assumptions are made about the neighborhood you live in or your church is located in. This is often a mistake that is taken which causes a person to misunderstand their neighbor.

Also those who are disenfranchised, impoverished, marginalized become depersonalized in ones thinking. As we connect with people our hearts connect with them. We find a connection with them in the sense that we are no longer depersonalizing people in the community that we have not had contact with.

In following the example of Jesus, he chose to deny himself and take on the form of man and dwell among us. In his dwelling he often entered into a community and either asked a question or told a story. He did not typically come in and tell people “what they needed to do.”

Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well is a prime example. First Jesus put himself in the place to meet the woman. He intentionally traveled through Samaria. Then he took time to stop at the well and request water. He came and discovered a need not give a solution. The irony of the encounter is that he was the one that could provide living water so that a person would not thirst again. Here he is requesting water from the woman who was to request living water.

The approach of the immersion is to learn about the neighborhood and to build bridges into the neighborhood.. In doing this it is essential to be a learner by taking the posture of a student. As you talk to people you are not to tell them your story or your perspective but to hear from them. BE LISTENER!

Before going out take time to pray for God’s guidance and Spirit initiated encounters.

In preparation for an Immersion we need to journey in the following ways:

Inward Journey
Together Journey
Outward Journey

This journey is a wholistic spiritual formation approach that leads to the heart of God and resulting in caring for those that are close to the heart of God the fatherless; widows (single parents), aliens…….

Inward journey – deep within my being I need to be renewed; my heart is deceptively wicked and off base. Adrian Van Kaam mentions the pride form of life. It is from this base I live until Christ brings about renewal; It is this battle I enter into between my selfishness and yielding to Christ. The inward journey is yielding my will, emotions, and mind to Christ. Through this process, I am serving Him through His strength, his will. The inward journey brings about transformation and deep healing. This is a journey of deeper union with God.

Together Journey – The journey is not taken alone; the life in Christ is always lived out in community. The inward renewal takes place as we live and relate and serve with one another. Together we walk; we minister to one another; we minister with one another. It is the community that joins together and is the expression of Christ to the neighborhood. This expression is the expression of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Outward Journey: The journey always leads to living on mission. The outward journey is to become engaged in the neighborhood. The actions of Jesus to humble himself leading to the attitude to serve and not be served; Jesus did not come to be served; he came as the suffering servant – he cared for the poor and those who were sick; My experience with God always leads to service/ministry, typically to the poor and marginalized.

The Immersion comes from an understanding that the work of Christ in me brings me into community with others to serve. I enter into the community not as the person having the answers but the person serving others.

Step 1: Come into the community as a learner – get an understanding of the context

Visit those organizations that have a presence in the community

What are they doing in the community
Who are they serving
What is their perspective of the community
How are they bringing the presence of Christ and the power of God?

Step 2: Experience the community by gaining first hand information

Walk in the community
Caution: you are coming initially like Jesus did; you are not coming with the answers but being present, dwelling with
Introduce yourself to people and ask if you could talk with them
Learn from them and gain their perspective of the community

Step 3: Serve in the community

Discover ways to serve
While serving take time to get to know someone
Sit with then and hear their story

Step 4: Debriefing

Taking time as a group to debrief the experience o What did you learn from the experience
- How did you get to know and how were you formed from the encounters?
- How did God speak to you through the experience?
What are the “take-aways” for you? How are you responding to this experience?

As a group “wrestle with the concept of how is God calling you to care for the fatherless, widow (single parent), the alien?

Basic Rules of the experience:

This is a time to learn; don’t provide answers
This is a time to build relationships not street evangelism
This is a time to care and understand those who are poor
This is not a time for solutions: i.e do not give money; do not make promises; do not provide personal information

Incarnational Presence

This is an essential and foundational part of Community Transformation. The understanding of incarnational presence comes from Philippians 2, where Paul describes how Jesus “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” (v 7) Jesus came into our setting and lived among us. He identified with us in our context and current situation. He came to serve and not be served. Finally in examining Jesus’ approach as he encountered people he often led with a question or a story. He did not come on the scene with an answer or direct teaching.

Breaking this down to Community Transformation, it is moving into the community of focus. The purpose is to live and be part of the community. The simplest reason is as I live in a community, I participate in the community, I become part of the community, and the issues of the community become my issues. For example as I moved to the north side of Pittsburgh, the problems with the nuisance bar one block from the grade school was my concern along with the other parents in the neighborhood because that was the school my children attended. As a result we banned together in a concerted effort to have the nuisance bar removed.

As I live in the community, I become part of the community. This means that I live in the neighborhood. I join hands with my neighbors to address the needs of the community. This is a very relational aspect to the approach. It is living in community as a servant. The opportunities open up to have conversations.

The early church attracted people to faith in and following Jesus through their actions and live response in the community. Often it was through their involvement in the face of persecution of seeking the well-being of the city. Community Immersion provides the approach of living out the call of God in the community thus attracting people to following Jesus.

Community Engagement

There are four postures to engage a community. Consider the four postures, how have you entered into communities? What posture do you resonate with?

To/At the community – I think that the community should change in a specific way or that the community has a need. I then provide that need or do the initiative. It is what I have determined and I fulfill. “Something I decide and I do it to you”.

I see the need and I address the need

For the community – I have come to understand the felt need in the community as I have lived in community. I then develop the response and provide for the felt need through my initiation.

We see the need and I address the need

In the community – Through my observation I diagnose the felt need in the community. I then work with the community to address the felt need I have diagnosed.

I see the need and we address the need

With the community – As I am living in the community, I become involved with the neighborhood. As the felt-needs of the community emerge, I join in and participate with the neighborhood to develop the response of the felt-need.

We see the need and we address the need

How does one engage with the community?

Doesn’t

Come in with the answers
Take charge
Be in control
Hold to your own expectations

Does

Possess a Humble attitude
Become a Student of the community (learner)
Walk with people
Learn from the people

Felt-Need/Asset Development

As you enter in a marginalized, at-risk community, the typical approach is to identify the felt-needs of the community then seek ways to engage with the community to meet those identified needs. Then a shift occurred to asset development. This approach addresses a community to determine the assets of a community to build off of in order to build up the community. This is not a matter of either – or but a both – and. In the exercise of exegeting the community discovering the felt needs and the assets of the targeted area is essential. Understanding the felt-needs and the assets increases awareness of the community. The importance of this discovery provides the learner to see the community from within and not to read into what the needs and assets of the community are.

The felt-needs are associated with the difficulties and deprivations of the community. The identification process occurs through studying the statistics of the community and hearing the concerns of the residents. For example the statistic can provide information about low employment, poor wages, lack of education, or poor housing. Residents can offer from their experience of lack of employment opportunities, poor schools, and poor housing. To gain a perspective of the felt-needs provides the opportunities to become engaged with the community.

To study the community it is not a matter of only studying the deprivation of the community. Too often at-risk communities are viewed in negative ways. To shift from this singlular approach discovering the assets of the community provides places to participate with and to build upon. In all communities there are assets that provide place to build upon. These assets can be viewed in terms of people, organizations, faith communities, businesses, and opportunities.

The Community Tool Box website provides information about identifying community assets:

http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-resources/identify-community-assets/main

WHAT IS A COMMUNITY ASSET?

Our definition is broad. A community asset (or community resource, a very similar term) is anything that can be used to improve the quality of community life. And this means:

It can be a person — Residents can be empowered to realize and use their abilities to build and transform the community. The stay-at-home mom or dad who organizes a playgroup. The informal neighborhood leader. The firefighter who risks his life to keep the community safe. These are all community assets.
It can be a physical structure or place — a school, hospital, church, library, recreation center, social club. It could be a town landmark or symbol. It might also be an unused building that could house a community hospice, or a second floor room ideal for community meetings. Or it might be a public place that already belongs to the community — a park, a wetland, or other open space.
It can be a community service that makes life better for some or all community members – public transportation, early childhood education center, community recycling facilities, cultural organization.
It can be a business that provides jobs and supports the local economy.
You and everyone else in the community are potential community assets. Everyone has some skills or talents, and everyone can provide knowledge about the community, connections to the people they know, and the kind of support that every effort needs – making phone calls, stuffing envelopes, giving people information, moving equipment or supplies – whatever needs doing. This suggests that everyone in the community can be a force for community improvement if only we knew what their assets were, and could put them to use.

One student of communities, John McKnight, has noted: “Every single person has capacities, abilities and gifts. Living a good life depends on whether those capacities can be used, abilities expressed and gifts given.”

WHY SHOULD YOU IDENTIFY COMMUNITY ASSETS?

They can be used as a foundation for community improvement.
External resources (e.g., federal and state money) or grants may not be available. Therefore, the resources for change must come from within each community.
Identifying and mobilizing community assets enables community residents to gain control over their lives.
Improvement efforts are more effective, and longer-lasting, when community members dedicate their time and talents to changes they desire.
You can’t fully understand the community without identifying its assets. Knowing the community’s strengths makes it easier to understand what kinds of programs or initiatives might be possible to address the community’s needs.
When efforts are planned on the strengths of the community, people are likely to feel more positive about them, and to believe they can succeed. It’s a lot easier to gain community support for an effort that emphasizes the positive – “We have the resources within our community to deal with this, and we can do it!” – than one that stresses how large a problem is and how difficult it is to solve.

WHO SHOULD IDENTIFY COMMUNITY ASSETS?

Community members of all stripes and from all sectors should be involved in identifying assets. One reason here is the commitment to participatory process that you’ll find in most Community Tool Box sections. An even more important one, however, is that community members from a broad range of groups and populations are far more likely to identify assets that may not be apparent to everyone. The community’s perception of what constitutes an asset or a resource is at least as legitimate as the “standard” list of institutions and people with specific skills.

A number of garbage-strewn, overgrown empty lots in a neighborhood can be seen as an eyesore and a neighborhood shame. But those lots can also be seen as open space that can be turned into playgrounds, pocket parks, and farmers’ markets with volunteer labor that in itself provides a neighborhood community-building opportunity. Community perception is crucial, because seeing something as an asset can make it possible to use it as one.

WHEN SHOULD WE IDENTIFY COMMUNITY ASSETS?

EVERY DAY. BUT HERE ARE SOME SITUATIONS WHEN IT’S ESPECIALLY DESIRABLE TO DO SO:

When you are conducting a community assessment and need to find assets to mobilize to address community needs.
When the community includes talented and experienced citizens whose skills are valuable but underutilized.
When you can’t provide traditional services, even if you wanted to, and are looking for other ways to build up the community.
When you want to encourage residents to take pride in and responsibility for local concerns and improvements.
When you want to strengthen existing relationships and build new ones that will promote successful community development in the future.

HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY COMMUNITY ASSETS?

The techniques for identifying community assets aren’t very hard. You don’t need a lot of special training or expertise to do the job well.

Before you begin, though, you do need to answer some important questions. You can do this yourself, in the privacy of your own home. But we recommend strongly do so before you start. Here they are:

What is the size of the community you’re concerned with?

An entire county? Town? Neighborhood? Housing development?

The bigger the community, the more work is involved – and you might need and probably different study methods for a large community than for a small one.

What people are available to do the work?

An individual? A small group of people? A larger organization? If you’re starting out alone, it makes sense to reach out to others, get them excited about the project, and recruit them to work with you. (Unless your community is very small, identifying all or most of its assets is a big job for one person).

How much time do you have for the task or how much time can you allow?

Tonight? A week? A month? As much time as it takes?

The more time you have, the more assets you will be able to uncover.

What financial resources, if any, can you count on to support the work?

If available, resources for copying or printing and to support human resources (time) can be helpful.

What do you want to do with the results?

Will they be posted in an online directory? Contacted about an opportunity to take action? If so, what action, and how?

WHAT COMES NEXT?

There are different approaches to identifying community assets. Each can be valid and useful. Which approach is right for you? The answer will depend in large part on your answers to the starting questions above. So, once again, answer them before you start.

But below are two basic approaches you could use in your own community. They complement each other. One of them focuses on the assets of groups — specifically, associations, organizations, and institutions. The other focuses on individual people.

IDENTIFYING THE ASSETS OF GROUPS

The central task here is to take an inventory of all the groups (associations, organizations, and institutions) that exist in your community. You want to make a list. But how do you figure out what goes on the list in the first place? Some suggestions follow:

Start the list with what you know. Write down anything that comes to mind. You can always correct your list later.

You can do this work by yourself; but it might be more useful and fun to work with others. Are there other people who could join you and make this a group project?

This is a great project for students or interns.

USE OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION TO ADD TO YOUR LIST.

These can include:

United Way’s 211 Information and Referral System contains information on non-profit organizations for many communities.
Community websites. Many cities and towns have their own websites, as do other community agencies. These can not only give you information about community resources, but also give you the names of people you can contact who might know a great deal more.
The yellow pages
Town directories, published for your community alone.
Lists of businesses, probably available from the chamber of commerce.
Lists of organizations and institutions that are not generally published. For example, your local newspaper may have its own unpublished list that it could make available to you.
Bulletin boards. Physical or virtual bulletin boards, and community-calendar type listings.
Your friends and colleagues. They may know about other lists available. And even if they don’t, they may know of groups, organizations, and community assets that are not on anybody else’s lists.

Refine and revise your list.

You can also break your list down in several different ways: alphabetically, geographically, by function, etc.

You now have an inventory of groups and group assets in your community — the associations, organizations, and institutions that are a fundamental part of community life and that can be used for community improvement. That’s an important step.

But what do you do now?

It’s possible to put these assets on a map. For more information on how to do this, see the heading on Mapping Community Assets, coming up.
It’s now desirable to think about how your list (or map) of assets could be used. See the heading on Using Community Assets, toward the end of this section.

IDENTIFYING THE ASSETS OF INDIVIDUALS

Compiling a list of key groups is one approach for identifying community assets. Another approach is to compile the assets of individuals. This can be challenging, because:

There are many more people than groups. To survey large numbers of people will take a lot of time.
We often don’t know people’s assets unless we ask them. Their abilities and talents are often unknown. When listing organizations, you often immediately know what that group is about. But we probably won’t know what individuals’ talents and skills are until we ask them. That takes more time.

For both these reasons, identifying individual assets often takes place over a smaller community area such as a neighborhood.

But many of the above suggestions still apply. Here’s how identifying individual community assets could be done in practice:

Answer the 5 “starting questions” previously given.

This step is the same as for studying the assets of groups.

Decide on the geographic area you want to cover.

Do you want to focus on a specific neighborhood or community? Or do you want a broad sampling of the community? Keep in mind the time and resources you have available as you make your decision.

Decide on how many people you are going to ask within that area.

Everyone? A certain fixed percentage? As many as you can find? Resolve this question in advance.

Draft some questions you want to ask that will get you the information you need.

Are you interested in skills, (“I can play the piano”), or interests (“I’d love to learn”)?

If it is skills, what kind of skills — academic, artistic, athletic, interpersonal, manual, office, organizing, parenting, vocational…? Human beings have many talents, and you probably want to narrow down your search, at least a little.

If interests, what kind as well? These too come in many and varied types.

Keep in mind:

Why am I collecting this information?
What do I want to use it for?

Design a method by which these questions can be asked.

For example:

Will you mail out a survey?
Will you (more simply) have a survey available to pick up?
Will you go door to door?
Will you call people on the phone?
Will you have scheduled interviews?
Will you meet people in groups?

Each method has its pros and cons.

Try out your questions on a sample group.

Based on their answers and their suggestions, you will probably want to make revisions. That’s a good idea, and a natural part of the process. Professional surveyors do the same thing, many times over.

Collect your data.

You’ve now got a territory to cover, some good questions that meet your needs, and a method for getting the answers. Good work. Now it’s time to put your plan into practice and collect your data.

An added bonus: When you ask people about their talents and abilities, that can also help encourage people to share them with others. So your survey may not only be identifying assets, but also promoting their use.

MAPPING COMMUNITY ASSETS

Once you have collected asset information, it’s often especially helpful to put it on a map. Maps are good visual aids: seeing the data right in front of you often increases your insight and understanding. There are several ways to go about this:

One mapping method is to find a large street map of your community, with few other markings. (Your local Planning Department may help here, or you can probably print one out from Google Maps or some other similar site.) Then just mark with a dot, tag, or push-pin (maybe color-coded by type) the geographic location of the groups and organizations you have found. The patterns that emerge may surprise you. You may see, for example, that certain locations have different numbers or types of associations. Those areas where few associations exist may be good targets for community development later on.

This type of mapping can also be done by computer. Software programs are available to help you do this. These programs are more flexible and sophisticated than paper-and-pushpin mapping, for with them you can create “overlays,” visually placing one category of map over another, and changing these visual patterns with the push of a button.

It’s also possible to diagram your resources on a non-literal map, but one which can more clearly show the linkages among different categories of assets.

There are a number of ways of making a non-literal map. One common one is to start with an inner circle that lists physical spaces – buildings, parks, lakes, plazas – that can be used by the community or provide community services and functions. The next circle out lists community institutions – hospitals, schools and universities, libraries, etc. A circle around that second circle might include organizations connected to those institutions or doing related work. (An adult literacy program might be formally or informally tied to educational institutions, to the library, or to major employers, for example.) The next circle out might list services, the next informal groups, and the last individuals (either specific people or the types of skills and interests you are fairly sure you’ll find in the community.) Lines might be drawn between these assets to show how they’re connected, or to show how they’re connected to the group or individuals making the map.

Other non-literal map methods might involve pictures, a photographic record, even small models of buildings and public spaces. The method really doesn’t matter as much as the goal of plotting the community’s assets in a way that makes it clear how they might interconnect, and how they can be combined to meet needs or enhance community life.

USING THE COMMUNITY ASSETS YOU HAVE IDENTIFIED

Whether or not you map your assets, the next and most important step is to make sure the assets you have identified get used. There is value just in expanding your own personal awareness of what exists in your community, but by sharing your results, you can also expand the awareness of others.

The real value and payoff of identifying assets is in actions that will improve your community. You want to put your assets to work for you. If you have personal assets, such as savings, you probably don’t want to hide them under a mattress. The same applies to the assets in your community. How can we maximize their return?

We’ll itemize just a few possibilities below. Think about which might fit best for you, and what your own next steps might be:

Community assets can be the basis for asset-based planning. Planning for community development and interventions can be based on what the community has to work with, and can include strengthening current assets and developing new ones as well as addressing problems. (John McKnight and John “Jody” Kretzmann, known as the founders of the asset-based planning movement, are also the founders and co-Directors of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University, one of the Chicago area’s community assets.)
You can publish the assets identified – on a town or separate website, in a community newsletter, in a community service section in the local newspaper, to name just three possibilities – and make them available to all community members. In doing so, you will stimulate public asset knowledge and use.
You can target a particular neighborhood or other area for development, on the basis of the asset patterns you have found.
You can use your knowledge of assets to tackle a new community project — because now you may have more resources to work on that project than you originally thought.
You can find new ways to bring groups and organizations together, to learn about each other’s assets — and perhaps to work collaboratively on projects such as the one above.
You can publicize these assets, and attract new businesses and other opportunities to your community. In both this example and the ones just above, you are using existing assets to create new ones. (This is what makes community work exciting!)
You can create a school curriculum to teach local students about these assets, thus enriching their knowledge of the community and building community pride.
You can consider creating a “community coordinator,” (or some other title), someone who would deal with assets every day. The coordinator’s new job would be to find the right assets in the community to respond to any request or community concern. Would this position pay for itself?
You (or the new coordinator) can keep records how assets are used in the community, and use those records to generate ideas for improving asset exchange.
You can set up structured programs for asset exchange, which can range from individual skill swaps to institutional cost-sharing.
Community assets keep getting reviewed, perhaps on a regular basis. New assets are always coming on the scene; it’s good to keep up to date on them. By so doing, the whole asset-identification process can become a regular part of community life.

Community assets should be reviewed on a regular basis. Asset identification should be a regular part of community life, so that community assets can be taken advantage of when they’re needed.

Contributor

Bill Berkowitz

Eric Wadud

Online Resources

PowerPoint presentation by S. Rengasamy: Adopting Asset Mapping in an Urban Ward in Madurai City. (Tamil Nadu, India).

Assets-Oriented Community Assessment. Patricia A. Sharpe, Mary R. Greaney, Peter L. Lee, Sherer W. Royce. Public Health Reports, March/April and May/June, 2000; vol. 115.

The Asset-Based Community Development Institute. John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann’s base at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy. The wellspring of asset-based community development.

Community Asset Mapping and Mobilizing Communities (for The Idaho Governor’s 6th Annual Roundtable Coeur d’Alene, Idaho June 6, 2005) includes many good examples of actual community skills and assets inventories.

Essential Tools: Improving Secondary Education and Transition for Youth with Disabilities, prepared by Kelli Crane and Marianne Mooney. Another excellent resource that makes use of community resource mapping, devoting much attention to the process of asset identification, as well as to technique.

Identifying, Mapping and Mobilizing Our Assets. (Prepared by Boyd Rossing, Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2000.

An outline for community mapping from University Community Partnerships, U. of California, San Francisco.

Mapping Community Assets by the Community and Economic Development Team of Agrilife Extension. 4-H Roundup College Station, TX June, 2011. This is a PDF of a useful PowerPoint presentation.

Print Resources

McKnight, J. (1992). “Building community.” AHEC Community Partners Annual Conference, Keynote address. Northwestern University: Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research.

McKnight, J. (1992). Mapping community capacity. Chicago, IL: Northwestern University: Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research.

Moore, M. (1994). Community capacity assessment: A guide for developing an inventory of community-level assets and resources. Santa Fe, NM: New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department.