Values, Faith

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Values, Faith Community Building

• Applying Asset Based Community Development (ABCD)
  in a Faith Context
• Mary Nelson

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Community Needs Map
Unemployment
Housing Projects
Crime
Child Abuse
Gang Members
Teen Mothers
Illiteracy
Poverty
School Dropouts
Mentally Ill
Homeless
Truancy Addiction
Delinquincy
Uninsured
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TWO PATHS ---TWO SOLUTIONS
Needs Assets (What
is not there) (What is
there) Services to meet
Connections needs
Contributions Consumers

Citizens Programs are the
People are the Answer
Answer
Definition of insanity Doing the same thing
over and over again and expecting different
results.
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LIMITS OF CHARITY

• Charity is not the answer to poverty. It only
  helps poverty to continue. It creates dependency,
  takes away the individuals initiatives to break
  through the wall of poverty. Muhammad Yunus
• Blessing snatchers
• Labeled people
• Sharing what works, not whats
• wrong (appreciative enquiry)
• Gifts of head, heart, hands,
• relationships

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GODS VISION FOR COMMUNITY

• Gods vision for the human community?
• How should we live together?
• Whos at the table? Left out?
• Whats difference between
• Gods vision and our reality?

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VALUES MOTIVATION

• What are the values that come out of our faith
  commitments?
• What are the common values that are shared with
  the community?

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• BUILT on a ROCK
• faith based
• Glue, gasoline and guts
• Faith focus
• Gods call to be about justice
• Gods reminder that every person is sacred, loved
  by God
• Gods promise of victory sustains us with hope
  (King quote)
• Gods love can turn lives around
• Gods plan for the human community is without
  borders or barriers - community

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Community Assets
Local Institutions
Businesses
Schools
Associations
Churches
Block Clubs
Gifts of Residents
Parks
Income
Libraries
Artists
Youth
Elderly
Labeled/Marginalized
Social Groups Self-Help Groups
Nonprofits
Hospitals
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FIVE LOAVES, TWO FISHES

• Identifying the gifts, talents, resources
• Of your group (individuals, etc)
• Of your community
• Assets of
• Individuals
• Associations
• Institutions
• Economy, businesses
• Place
• Faith and hope

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Building on Strengths - Individuals

• Create time/space to share gifts
• Share self first
• Learning interviews-Beyond the labels to see the
  gifts, hopes
• Gifts of head, heart, hands, human relationships
• Everyone has gifts, no exceptions
• Everyone must share their gifts
• Powerful communities create a place for people to
  share their gifts

Each one should use whatever gift he has
received to serve others, faithfully
administering Gods grace in its various forms.
I Peter 410
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Building on strengths- Institutions

• Identifying strengths within - group process
  learning interviews -What do we care about?
• What do we have to offer? Asset mapping inside
• Identifying community institutions/associations
  learning interviews
• What do they have to offer? What do they want?
• One on one -relationships inside outside
  institutions
• Coming together around common issues sharing

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Assets- Community (physical, social capital)

• Recognize your physical assets economic ones
• Look with new eyes
• Bethel - abandoned school, closed down hospital,
  transit stop, conservatory
• Build partnerships
• Keep evolving

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AN ABCD APPROACH

• Identifies and mobilizes the assets of
  individuals institutions, especially those who
  are clients of social services.
• Builds relationships among community members
  institutions, especially those that are mutually
  supportive.
• Gives community members more roles and power in
  local institutions. Citizens lead efforts.

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DISCOVERING ABUNDANCE

• Asset Mapping - teams of two (community and
  institution) - eyeballing
• New eyeglasses
• Learning conversations
• Discovering with our feet
• Discovering together

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Learning Conversations to Discover Motivation To
Act Less Successful More
Successful Start with the answer
Start with learning conversations
Recruit people to implement Discover what
people care the answer about, how
they see the
situation, what they
Look for answers to the to offer
additional problem of lack of motivation
Mobilize assets to action
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LEARNING CONVERSATION

• Tell us about something good that happened in the
  community recently
• Issues concerns you want to work on?
• Gifts, capacities skill to share?
• Strong relationships with others
  (associations/institutions)
• Further contacts you would suggest (other
  people-name, phone, address)

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Social capital - the connections among
individuals, social networks-with reciprocity
the more relationships someone (or some
institution) has in their community, the more
likely to be effective, employed, engaged,
volunteer
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PARTNERS RELIGIOUS INVOLVEMENT IN COMMUNITY
BASED DEVELOPMENT Congregations
Interfaith Religious
Regional Individual Religious
Organizations Jurisdictions Leader Advocate/C
onvenor Enabler/Facilitator Community
Organizer Resource Provider Development Partner
Developer Other
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Tools for Action-Discovery

• Asset mapping -physical-eyeball
• Mapping associations, institutions
• Learning Interviews Individuals - gifts to
  share, want to learn (in congregation, in
  community)
• Neighborhood Learning Interviews
• 1)3 best things about community
• 2) 3 things need working on
• 3) what are you willing to work on?
• Putting it all together to move into action-1)
  get back to people, businesses
• 2) connect people, institutions around ideas,
  issues
• 3) ID role you will play

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• FIVE LOAVES and TWO FISHES
• Start with what you have
• Asset based approach-gifts of individuals,
  associations, institutions, physical local
  economy
• Experience the abundance
• Linkages and connections
• Leveraging funds
• Social entrepreneurship
• Building poor

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EXERCISE

• How can you link the resources of your people,
  organization community to accomplish?
• What are the first 4 steps (and timetable) to get
  it done?

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Partnering Persistence

• Moses Jethro (Exodus 1813-27)
• Servants into friends (John 131-17)
• Widow going to Judge
• (Luke 18 1-8)
• Where are your scars?
• Wounded healer

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COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTGo to the
peopleLive among themLearn from themLove
themStart with what they knowBuild on what they
haveBut of the best leaderswhen their task is
doneThe people will remarkWe have done it
ourselves.
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Resources for Action

• Building Communities from the Inside Out
  -McKnight, Kretzman - ACTA actapublications_at_aol.co
  m
• Asset Based Strategies for Faith Communities -
  ACTA [phone]
• Power of Asset Mapping-How Congregation Can Act
  on its Gifts-Luther Snow Alban Institute
  www.alban.org
• When People Care Enough to Act - Mike Green with
  Henry Moore John OBrien Inclusion Press, 2006
  (www.inclusion.com)