What is Asset Based Community Development?
Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is an approach to sustainable community driven-development that involves working with people in neighbourhoods and communities that starts with focusing on what is STRONG not what is WRONG.
It’s a way of exploring, identifying, and unlocking people gifts, skills, and assets, harnessing the strengths of people in those neighbourhoods, that mobilises social connection and community action to facilitate changes in communities that are important to those people who live there. The things people choose to act on are often very different to what statutory/public sector agencies would prioritise.
Our journey so far…
Over the last 10 years Leeds City Council has funded the ABCD programme, working with third sector organisations, our ambition: to shift power to commune expand the ABCD model across the city, and in doing so, shifting power to people, and supporting communities to thrive.
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We believe in COMMUNITY POWER!
Our key principles are:
1. People driven – People are the instigators and leaders of positive change.
2. Relationship oriented – Relationships and friendships drive the approach not systems and processes.
3. Asset-based - We focus on people’s gifts and talents – harnessing what’s strong, not what’s wrong
4. Placed-based - The person defines their neighbourhood or community of Interest and is the leader in setting out what work through ABCD will have the biggest impact for change.
5. Inclusion focused - Everyone has their own gifts, and everyone has the opportunity and is welcomed to make a positive contribution through ABCD Community Builders who discovers Community Connectors - people who are active in community life and bring others together.
For more information...
Please see our Case Studies section to read lived experiences of how ABCD works, and the impact it is having in Leeds communities.
Please also see our Resources section for more useful information on ABCD.
We run a variety of training and learning opportunities on the ABCD model, to find out more please follow this link