Community Development
is asset-building that improves the quality of life among resident of
low-to-moderate income communities, where communities are defined as
neighborhoods or multi-neighborhood areas.
Community building in
all of these efforts consists of actions to strengthen the capacity of
communities to identify priorities and opportunities and to foster and sustain
positive neighborhood change.
One of the prime
approaches to community development is asset-based community development. The
idea is to build capacity within a community – to build and strengthen a
community’s assets. In contrast to focusing on problem and needs, this approach
focuses on a community’s strengths and assets. This asset-based approach is
focused on a community’s capacity rather than on its deficits. For instance,
rather than focusing on missing small businesses, this approach would focus on
existing small businesses and their success. Further, by zooming in on its
assets, the community as a whole will see its positive aspects (such as
community gardens, a mentoring program, and the many skill its residents) and
can then work on developing these assets even more. By implication,
concentrating on community asset will create a Snowball effect that will
influence other areas within a community such as is needs and problems. This
approach doesn’t ignore the problems within a community, but focuses first on
its strengths and small triumphs in order to provide a positive perspective of
community rather than a discouraging one.
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