Building Your Community: an Asset Based Community Development Toolkit

The Toolkit provides a practical guide on how to build on a community’s strengths and assets through a range of community activities.

This approach, known as Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), is a well developed concept and approach to community development that has been put into practice extensively in the United States.

It is based on the concept of building on what communities have, focusing on the positives and strengths.

The Tool Kit was produced by the Central Coast Community Congress Working Party 2003 in response to the overwhelming success of the inaugural Making Headway Central Coast Community Congress held in February 2002.

Participants at this Congress warmly embraced the key directions and concepts presented by keynote speakers and community enthusiasts, Robert Fitzgerald and Peter Kenyon, in changing the way we think about our communities and the way in which we undertake social planning and community development work.

The Toolkit draws on the theoretical basis developed by John Kretzmann and John McKnight from the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University
Follow this link to the Asset-Based Community Development Institute (opens in a new browser window)

This kit adapts the ideas of ABCD to a local Australian environment and is designed to encourage and empower local communities to develop their own projects.

The aim of this Tool Kit is to assist communities to undertake community activities that enhance cohesion and pride within the community by building on the community's strengths.

The Tool Kit provides a practical guide to how to do it. It is divided into 2 Sections:

Section 1 includes:

• Tips for putting together a good asset map

Section 2 includes:

• who to include
• publicity and promotion
• developing the agenda
• hints for facilitators
• problem solving
• exercises and activities
• project planning
• evaluation

Follow this link to download free 'Acrobat Reader from Adobe'. You will need it to open PDF files.

For further information

Contact	:	Central Coast Community Congress Working Party
Address	:	C/- Gosford City Council P.O. Box 21, Gosford NSW 2250
Phone	:	02 4325 8222
Email	:	goscity@gosford.nsw.gov.au

WWW

:

http://www.gosford.nsw.gov.au