Call for ABCD Innovators
If you know or have heard of someone who is doing innovative work in ABCD in response to societal changes – or if you’ve made those adjustments in your ABCD work – please tell us about it! Your nominee may be invited to share at the upcoming ABCD International Gathering in Chicago on July 29 and 30.
The gathering will explore how core principles of ABCD, which have endured for decades, are being practiced today in light of cultural changes, technological advances, demographic shifts, and altering political realities. Many of those principles have been featured in Building Communities from the Inside Out, which has been the definitive guide on Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) for more than 30 years. Affectionately known as the Green Book, the 376-page volume summarizes the lessons learned by John “Jody” Kretzmann and John McKnight, co-founders of the ABCD Institute, through their visits to hundreds of neighborhoods across the United States where residents mobilized local strengths to improve their communities. Some of the most enduring principles and themes of ABCD work are captured in the book, which has inspired community, institutional and public leaders for decades.
We’re looking to build on the lessons of the Green Book with fresh insights from today’s asset-based work. Fortunately, there are thousands of ABCD practitioners out there who have adapted their practices to meet these ever-changing times. We’d like to hear about what they’re doing during our time together in Chicago.
It doesn’t matter if the innovators are working within formal non-profit or institutional organizations or providing leadership through informal community networks. Specifically, we’re looking for new insights and approaches around three foundational concepts identified in the original Green Book:
Gifts and Talents: A core understanding of asset-based work is that it starts with the skills and insights of individuals gained through their lived experience. How are you or your nominee identifying, cultivating, and promoting these gifts and talents today?
Community and Associations: ABCD work mobilizes gifts and talents in the context of community through associational networks of community members. How are you or your nominee defining community and building associational networks today?
Institutions and Organizations: Beyond the assets of individuals and their collective efforts, institutions and organizations provide essential and complementary resources. How are you or your nominee enlisting or sharing support from evolving institutions in ways that enrich community assets?
Who do you know that can share insights and stories to help us think in new ways about these central ABCD themes?
Fill out the Innovation Nomination Form and we’ll check them out.
Apply or Nominate an Innovator