Asset Based Community Development Experiences in Australia

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Asset Based Community Development Experiences in
Australia - Presentation Notes - Peter
Kenyon Director Bank of IDEAS (Initiatives for
the Development of Enterprising Action and
Strategies) Ph 61 8 9293 0623 Fax [phone]
1137 email pk_at_bankofideas.com.au web
www.bankofideas.com.au
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Communities have never been built upon their
deficiencies. Building community has always
depended upon mobilizing the capacities and
assets of a people and a place. That is why a
map of community assets is necessary if local
people are to find the way toward empowerment and
renewal. (J. McKnight J. Kretzmann)
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Communities have deficiencies and needs
Communities and its citizens Have capacities
and assets
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COMMUNITY NEEDS MAP
Unemployment
Loss of Community Spirit
Illiteracy
Dysfunctional Families
Welfare Dependency
Vacant Shops Run Down Shopping Centre
Bullying
Child Abuse
Truancy
Crime
Mental Health
Graffiti
Youth Suicide
Alcoholism Drug Abuse
Early School Leavers
Homelessness
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COMMUNITY ASSETS MAP
LOCAL INSTITUTIONS RESOURCES
Local Businesses
Schools
COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS
Service Clubs
Neigh - bourhood House
GIFTS OF INDIVIDUAL
Ovals
Churches
Young People
Artists
Local Council
Senior Citizens
All Residents
Labelled People
Sporting Teams
Community Organisations
Community Stories
Government Agencies
Hospital
Local Facilities
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A campaign which will celebrate the great place
that Geraldton is. It will encourage people to
strive, by working together, to make Geraldton
even better through their own enterprise and
initiative. (J. McKnight J. Kretzmann)
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Vision
To build a healthier, vibrant community with an
energy for a change, a sense of pride, trust and
a spirit of self reliance. In doping so, we
create a city of fun and goodwill that is
positive about its future
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Campaign Objectives

• Instil community pride and confidence
• Recognise the importance of local business
  vitality
• Develop a creative community
• Enhance community commitment to local business
• Create a positive community mindset
• Encourage community participation

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'Harrow was down to being a two keg a week place,
and struggling it needed an outside income we
looked within and identified our assets -
location to other tourism product, its history as
the oldest inland town in Victoria, and a
cemetery full of great stories. With these
assets we have scripted a story based on the
towns heritage and folklore, and the rest is
definitely history ... (Angela Newton,
Publican, Heritage Hotel, Harrow)
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HARROW ACHIEVEMENT

• Pub went from 2 kegs to 20 kegs a
• week
• 250,000 in ticket sales annually
• 3 new businesses in main street
• 3 new accommodation businesses
• Renewed sense of pride and
• confidence
• Development of a 700,000
• Indigenous Cricket Interpretive Centre
• Beaut Blokes Weekends now
• franchised nationally

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WE CAN ASK QUESTIONS IN TWO WAYS   1. What is
wrong with our community? What problems can we
fix? What are the needs of our community? What
is broken? OR   2. What are the strengths and
assets of our community? Share a time when you
felt our community was at its best? What do
you value most about our community? What is the
essence of our community that makes it unique
and strong?
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YALGOO CHALLENGES

• SMALL POPULATION
• LIMITED FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL
• CAPACITY
• COMMODITY PRICE DEPENDANT
• INDUSTRIES
• LOSS OF CRITICAL BUSINESS
• ISOLATION
• CHRONIC HEALTH PROBLEMS
• POOR EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
• HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT
• FEW RECREATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
• LIMITED HOUSING
• UNHEALTHY WATER

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YALGOO ASSETS

• CAN DO COUNCIL
• SKILLS WITHIN THE COMMUNITY
• INDIGENOUS POPULATION AND CULTURE
• INFRASTRUCTURE
• - RAILWAY DAMS
• - RAILWAY STATION
• MINING INDUSTRY
• PASTORAL INDUSTRY
• LOCATION

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YALGOO TOURISM APPEAL

• GATEWAY TO OUTBACK
• INDIGENOUS CULTURE HERITAGE
• MINING, PASTORAL RAIL HERITAGE
• GREAT STORIES
• MONSIGNOR HAWES HERITAGE TRAIL
• WILDFLOWERS
• ANIMAL LIFE

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Suburb of Willagee (City of Melville, WA)
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In the early 1950s when the demand for housing
became acute the State Housing Commission planned
a new suburb in the Melville district to be
called Willagee which was the aboriginal name for
a lake in the district. The concept was for a
population of 6,000 to serve as a dormitory for
an area then beginning to become
industrialized. (p 134, The City of Melville
From Bushveld to Expanding Metropolis)
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Name Willagee Smelling Lake or Ochre?
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In every community something works. Change can be
achieved by identifying what works and focusing
on doing more of what works.
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Appreciative Inquiry
AI is a reaction to problem based and deficiency
focused change methodologies. It is the
cooperative search for the best in people, their
organisations and their community. It involves
systematic discovery of what has happened in the
past, and what gives a person, an organisation or
community life when most effective and capable.
AI involves the act and practice of asking
questions that strengthen capacity to heighten
positive potential.
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City of Melville Staff Workshop Discussion
Questions

• Looking back over your time working with the City
  of Melville, share a high point a time when you
  felt most alive, a time when you felt you were
  making a difference what was it that made you
  feel this way?
• What do you value most about
• - yourself
• - the people you work with
• - the orgnisation?
• 3. If you had 3 wishes for the organisation, what
  would they be

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Kentish Positive Futures Program (Tasmania)
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Kentish Positive Future aimed to build community
pride and confidence, community capacity, greater
community participation and leadership
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Vision and Plan of Action

• Based on
• experience of pride and achievement of
• the past
• assets, skills and capacities of its
• residents, organisations and networks
• shared community values
• windows of opportunity for embracing
• social, economic and cultural life and
• future aspirations and hopes of
• community members.

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Central Coast Community Congress (From 2002)
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• Three Congress Events (2002,
• 2004, 2006)
• ABCD Tool Kit
• Video of Initiatives
• (www.communitycongress.org)

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Supporting young people to pursue to personal,
community and career aspirations
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Community Skills and Passion Audit

• HANDS (things I know how to do and enjoy, e.g.
• project organisation, gardening, painting,
  rock
• climbing, cooking, jewellery making, using the
  
• internet, sign language etc)
• HEART (things I care deeply about, e.g.
• environment, intergenerational activities,
  animal
• welfare, womens rights, youth unemployment
  etc)
• HEAD (things I know something about, and would
• enjoy talking about or teaching to others
  about,
• e.g. local history, conservation, business
• management etc)

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C.R.E.A.T.E. Initiative
(Creating Rural Enterprising Attitudes Through
Education)
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• Curriculum Themes of the C.R.E.A.T.E. Initiative
• I Understanding change in rural Australia
• II Knowing oneself and ones strengths
• III Discovering what it means to be an
  enterprising
• person, community and business
• enterprising individuals
• enterprising businesses
• enterprising communities
• IV Exploring our community as a place of
  opportunity
• auditing the community
• appreciating its uniqueness, assets and windows
  of
• opportunity
• V Testing and tasting the enterprise option
• idea generation and critical thinking

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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 (John McKnight and Jody
Kretzmann)
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Every time a person uses his or her capacity,
the community is stronger and the person more
powerful. That is why strong communities are
basically places where the capacities of local
residents are identified, valued and used. Weak
communities are places that fail, for whatever
reason, to mobilise the skills capacities and
talents of their residents or members. (Asset-Ba
sed Community Development Institute)
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Traditional Community Development
Asset Based Community Development
Top down, outside in Weaknesses Deficiencie
s, needs   Disabilities   Silo
provision   Consumers of services   Depende
nce on outside
Inside out Strengths Assets, opportunities   Abi
lities, capacities   Collaboration
Relationships, networking   Producers of
services   Importance of Professionals and
relationships
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Seven Pillars Of A Healthy Community   Practices
ongoing dialogue Generates leadership Shapes its
future Embraces diversity Knows itself Connects
people and resources Creates a sense of
community   (Healthy Cities and Communities
Coalition, USA)
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• Strong Communities
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• have strong leaders
• have strong networks with other communities
• can build on their existing assets and
  resources
• have a can-do community spirit and are
  optimistic about the future
• can grasp the opportunities that come their
  way
• have a sense of belonging to the community
  among its members
• embrace change and take responsibility
• (Stronger Families, Stronger Communities at
  Department of Family and Community Services)

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• Successful Communities
• Build on the strengths of local individuals,
  associations and institutions
• Focus on specific actions and measurable results
  to improve community life
• Promote participation by people of all races,
  genders, cultures and age groups
• Ensure local decision making and ownership
• Draw upon the resources of the whole community
• Bridge all sectors to develop healthy children,
  families and communities,and
• Share experience and knowledge to promote
  continuous community learning.
• (According to Prime Ministers Youth Pathways
  Action Plan Taskforce 2001)

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Contact Details Peter Kenyon Ph 61 8 6293
1848 Fax [phone] Bird Rd,
Kalamunda WA 6076   Email for copy of
presentation pp_at_bankofideas.com.au Website for
bookshop newsletter mailing list www.bankofide
as.com.au