Asset-Based Community Development Institute

Asset-Based Community Development Institute

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Summary:

The Asset-Based Community Development Institute is co-directed by John L. McKnight and John P. Kretzmann, famous for their contention that community assets are the essential building blocks in successful urban and rural community revitalization efforts. Even distressed neighborhoods include vital assets, including the skills of local residents; the power of local associations; resources of public, private, and nonprofit institutions; and physical and economic resources.   The ABCD Institute, housed at Northwestern University, has a faculty of 32 adjunct practitioner/trainers who work as consultants, workshop leaders, and speakers.  The Institute publishes a workbooks series that offers practical resources and tools for community-builders.  Current projects at the Institute include examinations of:

• community benefits of local associations,
• rural stories of ABCD at work,
• faith-based organizations doing asset-based community building,
• community responses to local economic development, and
• how to do citizen-centered community organizing.  

Why FASTEN recommends this resource:

McKnight and Kretzmann?s landmark 1993 book, Building Communities from the Inside Out, helped to shift the paradigm of effective community development work. The ABCD Institute and its publications continue to influence the field and contribute to further improvements.