Asset Based Community Development

Healthy individuals and families require healthy communities. Historically, many attempts to create such communities have used a "needs-based approach" which focuses on the deficits and short-comings in those communities, the assumption being that outside resources would be the catalyst for change. In contrast, an "asset-based approach" identifies, connects and mobilizes the resources within a community, believing that such resources are the key to sustainable change. This workshop introduces the key ideas of asset-based community development and suggests helpful tools to pursue this process.