NCJ Number
136662
Journal
New Designs for Youth Development Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1992) Pages: 9-16
Date Published
1992
Length
8 pages
Annotation
A useful first step in promoting community development in lower-income urban neighborhoods is to focus on their potential rather than on their problems and therefore to develop a map of the community's assets, capacities, and abilities.
Abstract
The central element in neighborhood regeneration is not only to build on these resources but also to harness those that are not yet available for local development purposes. Assets and capacities that are located inside the neighborhood and are largely under neighborhood control include personal income, the gifts of labeled persons, individual local businesses, home-based enterprises, citizens associations, associations of businesses, financial institutions, cultural organizations, communications organizations, and religious organizations. Assets located within the community but largely controlled by outsiders include private and nonprofit organizations, public institutions and services, and physical resources such as vacant land and buildings and energy and waste. Finally, resources originating outside the neighborhood and controlled by outsiders include welfare expenditures, public capital improvement expenditures, and public information. Communities can use the maps of their assets to identify or create an asset development organization, undertake a community planning process, and develop links with outside resources. Diagrams