February 10-11, 2012

Friday, 6-9 pm; Saturday 8-noon

Follow up workshop, Saturday, April 21, 2012

Jody Kretzmann, co-founder and director of the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute at Northwestern University, will locate the roots of the asset-based approach in the histories of the Settlement House, "Alinskly-style" community organizing, the civil rights movement and community economic development.  ABCD implies a critique of traditional needs and deficiency-oriented analyses and strategies, and draws on decades of community-based research and experience to elaborate an approach to development which recognizes and mobilizes six basic categories of assets. This evening's presentation and discussion will introduce the ABCD approach, and will introduce the asset categories, along with strategies and tools for discovering and activating them. Saturday morning's session will lead participants to be able to apply these approaches to their own community and congregational settings, and will challenge them to plan and execute their own community building activities.

Cost $15 per participant (hospitality). Please pay by check: made payable to Faith in the City and mailed to: Faith in the City, Kretzmann workshop, Augsburg College, 2211 Riverside Avenue, CB 183, Minneapolis, MN  55454. For more information: Rev. Deborah Hutterer, huttered@augsburg.edu, 612-359-6499.

Workshop goals

Understand and claim God’s abundant assets in the community

Encourage communities of faith to take the lead for change

Strengthen partnerships between communities of faith, neighborhoods and city

Evaluate, identify and grow leaders for change

Train and equip participants with asset based development tools, create a plan of action, and name observable indicators for success

Accountability for forward movement by participation in follow-up workshop, April 21, 2012.

Who will most benefit?

It is our hope that people of faith invested in seeing assets in community, rather than the deficits, will want to be present for this opportunity. Participants will ideally come with a team of people who have identified an opportunity/challenge in their church or neighborhood they want to address employing the disciplines of asset based development.