HELPING LOCAL PEOPLE DOEXTRAORDINARY THINGS.

James Hampson - Connecting Communities Co-ordinatorHelen Smith – Community Building Co-Ordinator

Lisa Brown – Community Builder

Forever Manchester Community Builder Team Training

Ground Rules• Have Fun• Keep an Open Mind• Be Positive but don’t be afraid to challenge• Get to know each other• Laugh • Don’t be afraid to ask questions and share your

thoughts if you have them• Tweeters!!

• @4EverManchester• @TPAction• #BeBoldTrafford

Aims for today

• Recap on Asset Based Community Development

• Reminder of Community Building Tools

• The Big Questions• Future planning• Team building

Introductions

• What brings you to todays session?• What do you hope to get out of the session?• What are you bringing to the session and

ongoing community building work?

Forever Manchester• Community Foundation for Greater Manchester• Been active for 25 Years• Raise and distribute funds to communities of

Greater Manchester• 2011 We discovered a different way of working• Developed the UK’s first dedicated ABCD

Community Building Team• Now apply the ethos of ABCD to all aspects of our

business including grant making• We work with Communities to help them do

“Extraordinary things together”

Classic Needs Map

Racial tension/hate crimes High crime rates. Significant fear among older people

High levels of Debt

Smoking relatedHeart diseaseRespiratory difficulties

Obesity across The life course

High levels of drug and Alcohol use.

High unemployment Poor educational attainment

Poor housing/environmental issues

High morbidity

Anti socialbehaviour

Gender inequality

Problems with this approach?

The consultation on the joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA) in Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria concluded that “improving self-worth is at the heart of issues related to healthy lifestyles. If people value themselves, then other behaviours like healthy eating and giving up smoking will follow. Whilst many communities recognise that their health is worse than the average, reinforcing these negative images could have a negative impact on people’s self-worth.”

• Apathy• “Its not for me”• Suspicion• Communities become passive recipients of services• Isolation• Creates Competition for funding• “Ugly Contest”

About Asset Based Community Development

• Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute was founded in 1995 after 3 decades of community development research

• Formalised by Professor John McKnight and Professor Jodi Kretzman at Northwestern University, Chicago

“When people have been mapped by their deficiencies, it is often difficult to pinpoint what they care about enough to act upon” Kretzmann and McKnight, 1993

Asset Based Community Development

ABCD is a different way of thinking about how to work for change – starting from a place of possibilities, strengths and capacities as opposed to problems and deficiencies.

ABCD operates on the assumption that people, regardless of their behaviour, their families and their communities have valid and valuable resources for their own empowerment.

It also assumes that people have internal motivations to act which can release these resources for the good of themselves and their wider community.

About Asset Based Community Development

• This is not ‘Big Society’, or a call for more volunteering; it is a set of approaches that starts with the positive as a basis for developing innovative and sustainable solutions

• It’s not an approach that just looks on the bright side, but instead uses knowledge of ‘assets’ to make new connections and enhance social capital

• A strength-based approach focuses on what works and how to generate more of it, rather than focussing on the deficits and problems

About Asset Based Community Development

Community Builders should first seek to answer these 3 questions about their communities• What can the community do for themselves?• What can the community do with the help of

services/professionals?• What can only be done by

services/professionals

Principals of Community Building Start with discovering people’s strengths Start with relationship building Local led action is more durable and

sustainable than professional programmes Social justice is at the heart of every

community building effort When the conversation shifts from “isn’t it

awful” to “what’s possible?” Real community building begins

Classic Needs Map

Racial tension/hate crimes High crime rates. Significant fear among older people

High levels of Debt

Smoking relatedHeart diseaseRespiratory difficulties

Obesity across The life course

High levels of drug and Alcohol use.

High unemployment Poor educational attainment

Poor housing/environmental issues

High morbidity

Anti socialbehaviour

Gender inequality

Neighbourhood Asset Map

Physical Space

Local Economy

StoriesInstitutions

Associations

Individuals

My Community

InstitutionsSchools

Universities Community CollegesPolice Departments

HospitalsLibraries

Social Service AgenciesNot for Profits

MuseumsFire Brigades

MediaFoundations

IndividualsGifts, Skills, Knowledge,

and traits of:Youth

Older AdultsArtists

Welfare RecipientsPeople with disabilities

StudentsParents

EntrepreneursActivistsVeterans

Ex-offenders

Local EconomyFor-profit business

Consumer ExpenditureMerchants

Chamber of CommerceBusiness Associations

BanksCredit UnionsFoundations

Institutional - purchasing power and personnel Barter and Exchange

Micro-BusinessCorporations and Branches

Physical SpaceGardens

ParksPlaygroundsBike Paths

Walking PathsForest/forest Preserves

Picnic AreasCampsites

Fishing SpotsDuck Ponds

ZoosWildlife Centre

Natural HabitatsHousing

Vacant Land & BuildingsStreets

Associations

Animal Care GroupsAnti-Crime GroupsBusiness OrganisationsCharitable GroupsCultural groupsDisability GroupsEducation Groups Elderly Groups Environmental Groups Family Support Groups Health Advocacy Heritage Groups Hobby Groups Interest Groups Men’s Groups

Mentoring GroupsNeighbourhood GroupsPolitical OrganisationsRecreation GroupsReligious GroupsService ClubsSocial GroupsWomen’s GroupsYouth Groups

Stories From ManchesterAlt Community Challenge

Team

Lostock Men’s Shed

Cool 2 B Kind

Great Lever Idea Works

Lostock Allotment

The ALTernative News

Cash 4 Graft

From Needs to Strengths

What are Assets?

There are 5 key Assets in every community…1)Individuals2)Associations3)Institutions4)Physical Assets5)Connections

ABCD Methodology

Discovering Strengths

Organising & Mapping

Linking & Mobilising

Community led Initiatives

Sustaining the Process

Community Building Tools

• Asset Mapping• Bumping Spaces• Learning Conversations• Head, Heart and Hands• The We Can Game• Connectors Clubs• Creating Space

The Big Questions

• Spend time talking in your groups

• Share what Questions you may have

• As a table decide on 3 big questions you would like to explore

The Future• In your teams talk about how you can begin to

work together as community builders• Is there anything you want to do?• What are you going to do to move this forward?

– In the next 3 days– The next 3 weeks – The next 3 months