Identifying Community Assets and Resources

What is it?
This document explains the importance of Identify Community Assets in
coordinating community activities. Community assets and resources are anything
that can be used to improve the quality of a community; people, physical
structure, place, business, programs, partners etc. Identifying these assets can
be helpful as they can be used to aid in community improvement. The document
outlines ways to identify community assets and use them.

How will it help me with Living School?

Identifying community assets in collaboration with partners is an important part of
the Living School Community Consultation process. A fundamental concept in
Living School is the notion of partnerships and shared responsibility for the health
and well being of children and youth within a community. Building on the
strengths that already exist in your school community can allow all partners and
stakeholders to contribute to fostering an active healthy school community. This
document provides an overview of principles of community asset and resource
assessment.

When could I use it?

Identifying community assets is important early on in your planning activities, but
is an ongoing process. Initially you can map your assets to see which areas you
are strongest, and where you have gaps. You can also compare your assets to
your existing activities, as well as your overall vision and discuss with partners as
part of your planning process. You may find that there are many assets already
available to you that you were unaware of that could really help you out!

Source:

Work Group on Health Promotion & Community Development. The Community

ToolBox, Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, 2004, http://ctb.ku.edu/tools/.

Appropriate Use of Documents:

Documents may be downloaded, printed and/or edited for use on your own projects.
Credit to the originator of the document must be provided. You must not sell the
document or make a profit from reproducing it. If you intend on using materials for use in
another publication you must first obtain permission from Ophea.

http://www.livingschool.ca 1
 Identifying Community Assets and Resources

Many community organizations focus on the needs or deficits of the community.

And they should. Every community has needs and deficits; they ought to be
corrected.

Yet it's also possible to focus on assets and strengths -- emphasizing what the
community does have, not what it doesn't. Why? Because those assets and
strengths can be used to meet those same community needs; they can improve
community life.

To accomplish this, we first have to find out what those assets are. So in this
section, we will learn how to identify community assets and resources. We'll also
show how they can be harnessed to meet community needs and to strengthen
the community as a whole.

But first:

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 -- the master mechanic down the street who can fix any
car ever made. The stay-at-home mom or dad who organizes a playgroup.
The church member who starts a discussion group on spirituality. Or a star
high-school athlete, or coach, or cheerleader, or fan in the stands. 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.

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 It can be a business that provides jobs and supports the local economy.

You are a community asset, too, and so are your friends, and the people
you know, and the people you don't know yet. When you walk down the
street, there are assets all around you. This is a very encouraging and
promising way of seeing the world.

And actually, in a true sense of the word, everyone living in the community
is a community asset -- at least potentially so, and probably really so. This
is good news, because it suggests that everyone in the community can
be a force for community improvement if only we knew what their
assets are, 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."

Do you agree?

Why should you identify community assets?

Basically, because they can be used as a foundation for community

improvement. And also because:

External resources (e.g., federal and state money) often just aren't
available, whether we like it or not. 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. People can become active
shapers of their own destinies, instead of passive clients receiving
services from a variety of agencies.
Improvement efforts are more effective, and longer-lasting, when
community members dedicate their time and talents to changes they
desire.

Are there other reasons you can think of?

When should we identify community assets?

Every day. But here are some situations when it's especially desirable to do so:

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 When you don't know what those assets are. This may be especially
true when you are new to a community.
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 ownership
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.

So here are the key questions we face:

What kinds of assets are available right here in the community?

And:

How can I work together with the community to mobilize these assets to
help the community achieve its goals?

Let's take up these questions one at a time.

How do you identify community assets?

Some questions before you begin

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:

1 What is the size of the community, in your case? It could be an entire town
(or even larger), or a smaller village. It could be a part of a town -- such as
a neighborhood, or an even smaller community, such as a housing
development or cluster of blocks.

Obviously, the bigger the size, the more work is involved; and probably
different study methods, too.

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 2 What people are available to do the work? You? You, plus some friends?
A small group of people? A larger organization? Of course, you can also
reach out to others, get them excited about the project, and recruit them to
work with you.

And what about help from the town itself? It might be possible to get town
government backing for a project like this, for knowing the community's
assets is surely in the town's interest.

3 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.
Hopefully, you've got more time than just tonight. But unlimited time is not
required, nor even desired. This task is time-limited.

4 How much money, if any, is at your disposal? Or, how much can you get
hold of? We're talking about money for copying, mailing, incidental
expenses, rather than for bigger-ticket items such as staff time. If
identifying community assets can be made part of your regular work, that's
certainly a plus, and worth pushing for; but this is frequently a volunteer
type of community job.

The more people, time, and money available, of course the more you can
do. But even if you have just yourself, no money, and little time, you can
still do useful work in identifying assets that will be helpful to the
community especially if nothing like this has ever been done before.

5 Lastly, a big question, perhaps the most important of all: What do you
want to do with the results? Do you just want to keep these assets on file?
Or share them with others? Or use them for action? If so, what action, and
how?

This is a very basic question, too often neglected. Our opinion: If you can't
answer this question clearly before you begin, then perhaps you're not
ready to begin.

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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:

1. Get out a pad and start writing. Begin with what you know. Write down
anything that comes to mind. You can always correct your list later.

Idea: 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 with you
and make this a group project?

Another idea: This is a great project for students or interns.

2. Use other sources of information to add to your list. These can include:

The yellow pages are a free, comprehensive, and often excellent

source.
Town directories, published for your community alone.
Lists of businesses, probably available from the chamber of commerce.
Lists of organizations, which may have already been published. Check
your library or town hall.
Lists of organizations, which are not generally published. For example,
your local newspaper may have its own unpublished list that it could
make available to you.

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 The local newspaper itself. Perhaps the single best current source in
print. Plus other print sources as well local newsletters, regional
papers, whatever you can get your hands on.
Bulletin boards. Physical bulletin boards, for sure; and also community
-calendar type listings that might be found on local cable television.
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.

3. When you finish, you may have quite a long list. That is a good sign -- it
means that there are a lot of assets in your community! To expand your
list further, go to Step 4.

4. Refine and revise your list. (You can put it on a computer, if you haven't
done so already.) You can also break your list down in several different
ways: alphabetically, geographically, by type of function, by size, by
public/private membership or governance, or however you want.

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.
Congratulations on a job well done!

Identifying the assets of individuals

In identifying community assets, compiling a list of key groups is one major

approach. Another approach is to compile the assets of individuals. This can be
challenging, because:

There are many more people than groups. In a community of 50,000, you might
find 500 distinct groups, a hypothetical but reasonable figure; but there would be
100 times that many people (500 x 100 = 50,000). To survey that many people
will take a lot of time.

The second major difference is that we often don't know people's assets unless
we ask them. Their abilities and talents are often unknown. When listing
organizations, if you encounter Alcoholics Anonymous, for example, or the
Sunshine Nursery School, you immediately know what that group is about. But
John or Jane Q. Citizen could be anything under the stars. We probably won't
know until we ask them. That takes more time again.

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And if everyone is a community asset, as has been suggested before, that time
adds up significantly.

For both these reasons, identifying individual assets often (but not always) takes
place over a smaller community area -- a neighborhood, for example, or some
other place where the task is more manageable.

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: when you can see the data right in front of
you, understanding and insight often increases. 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.) Then just mark
with a dot, or 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

Using the community assets you have identified

But whether or not you map your assets, the next and most important step is to
make sure the assets you have identified get used. What you have done up to
now is an achievement, because not every community has come so far. And yes,
there is value just in expanding your own personal awareness of what exists in
your community; and by sharing your results, you can also expand the
awareness of others.

But 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

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mattress. The same applies to the assets in your community. How can we
maximize their return?

This document was adapted from the following source:

Work Group on Health Promotion & Community Development. The Community

ToolBox, Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, 2004, http://ctb.ku.edu/tools/.

Appropriate Use of Documents:

Documents may be downloaded, printed and/or edited for use on your own projects.
Credit to the originator of the document must be provided. You must not sell the
document or make a profit from reproducing it. If you intend on using materials for use in
another publication you must first obtain permission from Ophea.

http://www.livingschool.ca 9