Asset-Based Community Development and Early Organization GARDENING 201 :: LESSON 1

Transcription

1 Leon 1 Aet-Baed Community Development and Early Organization In thi leon, you will learn how to recognize and ue all of your available reource in the planning and development of your community garden. Aet-Baed Community Development (ABCD) i a framework for organizing of any kind not jut for garden that emphaize the trength and aet of a community and it member and make the mot of thee aet for the particular development project. In 1993 Jody Kretzmann and John McKnight created thi model a an outgrowth of their reearch that found that group and communitie who had effectively mobilized and built capacity hared thee key element: citizen v. client orientation focu on trength power from relationhip building on opportunitie Uing the ABCD approach foter a poitive environment for the creation of a community garden becaue it help participant focu on the poitive apect of their community and their project, rather than the negative. In thi leon you will learn how to identify your community aet, and learn the early tep for recruiting and organizing a core garden team. Early recruiting and organizing i included in thi leon on ABCD becaue the two go hand-in-hand: your core organizer are ome of your aet, and they will help identify more aet. Learning Objective 1. Undertand the baic of Aet-Baed Community Development and how to ue thi approach. 2. Practice mapping community aet. 3. Know trategie for initial group organizing and recruitment. Undertanding Aet-Baed Community Development (ABCD) ABCD promote a gla-half-full mindet for the community garden creation proce. The guiding quetion of the ABCD approach i What exiting reource and kill are available to u in our local community? Thi approach put a poitive pin on the need-baed approach to community development, in which a group would eek to identify olution to a particular problem in their community. It can ometime be challenging to ue the need-baed approach and till maintain poitivity in community braintorming eion, ince the focu i on a problem. In any planning proce, it i important to keep the converation poitive and promote pride in the local community, and ABCD can help you do that. ABCD help your group focu on what reource you have available and what poitive thing you can accomplih with thoe reource. The following decription from the Aet-Baed Community Development Intitute at the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwetern Univerity provide a vivid decription of ABCD: integration of community economic development principle 15

2 How you perceive the neighborhood that you live or work in i going to profoundly influence the way that you act. Typically a neighborhood i een from the perpective of it larget deficit. That i a dangerou neighborhood, That neighborhood look trahy, There i a lot of poverty in that community. How many time have you heard that a a firt decription of a neighborhood? We all know about the negative thing that are a part of our community, but, at the other ide of every deficit, i an aet begging for ome attention. Aet-Baed Community Development (ABCD) i intentional about keeping our focu on thoe aet and celebrating what i right with our community. You will notice that a people begin to talk about the poitive thing in the community, when they are encouraged to talk about what i working, when they learn of all the great reource that are in their neighborhood (and in ome cae have alway been available in their neighborhood), the energy level will increae exponentially. INRC Organizer Workbook Below are three concie characteritic of ABCD and five type of aet that you might find in your community (both adapted from the Toronto Community Garden Network Community Garden Handbook ) to help you viualize the ABCD approach. 16 Three Primary Characteritic of ABCD 1. Aet-baed Garden planning i baed around individual contribution, aociation, local intitution and the local ecology and economy of a neighborhood. 2. Internally focued Development trategie focu on the interet and problem-olving capabilitie of local reident, local aociation and local intitution. 3. Relationhip-driven Thi approach promote the development of relationhip between reident, local aociation and local intitution by contantly aking whether action will poitively contribute to tronger relationhip. Five Categorie of Aet The following are the type of aet you might find in your community. When you are braintorming poible aet, make ure to think about all of thee categorie. Below you ll find an example of an aet map that ue thee categorie of aet, contrated with a need map to reinforce the difference in viualizing your community. In the next ection of thi leon, you ll learn how to build a more pecific type of aet map that i focued on your community in particular. 1. Individual Contribution The pecific talent, kill, and reource that community member poe that can be put to work in building the community. (Example: gardening experience, people-organizing kill, computer kill, contruction kill, muical talent, monetary donation, material donation, etc.) 2. Aociation Small formal or informal group of people that work together toward a common goal (including hared interet). An aociation help to amplify or build upon the gift, talent and kill of individual community member. (Example: reident aociation, book club, port team, faith group) 3. Intitution Local government, buinee and community organization that have reource and knowledge that can be drawn upon to upport community building.

3 4. Land and Building Infratructure and pace reource in a neighborhood, uch a a chool or community center open to community group after hour for meeting pace, open pace for the garden, park for meeting and celebration, etc. 5. The Local Economy Local buinee and lending organization that can donate money or material, and/ or publicize and upport community work. (Example: printing hop that can do free copie of poter, local newpaper that publih torie on community project, garden center that donate plant, etc.) Mapping Community Aet In thi activity you will practice identifying the potential partner and aet available to you when planning your community garden. All communitie are different; therefore, it i recommended that you conduct thi activity with your own community garden group early in the planning tage. The goal i to braintorm all the aet available from the different group, people, and organization involved in the garden, uing the five categorie of aet a a guide, and the benefit thoe repective entitie can gain from involvement in the garden. You hould do thi early on to help guide your recruitment (ee below), and then once again after you have etablihed a larger core garden management group, to expand your reach into the community and it available aet. Community Aet Mapping (The following tep and example map Figure 1 and 2 are adapted from the Toronto Community Garden Network Community Garden Handbook. ) 1. On a large heet, draw a circle in the middle and write Community Garden Project, or the appropriate name for your own project, inide. 2. On the outide edge of the paper write the name of partner or potential partner you can identify and draw a box around each of them. Think creatively about potential partner. 3. Braintorm way that each partner can help a community garden, again thinking creatively. For example, the police department could be a potential partner that might be willing to include the garden ite on it neighborhood check route or to donate fund from the local police athletic league fund. 4. Draw an arrow from each partner to the garden circle and label each arrow with the way that partner can contribute to the garden effort. 5. Braintorm what the garden can offer each partner. For example, could act a a gang or violence prevention trategy by providing youth alternative to boredom or illegal activitie, which would benefit the local police department. 6. Draw an arrow from the garden to each potential partner, and label thoe arrow with the way the garden can benefit the partner. The reult i labeled arrow in both direction between each partner and the garden project. Activity 1 17

4 Mapping Reciprocal Partnerhip location for meeting watchful family preence e ur c o kill mun, v olu ity inte ntee gra pm ent YOUTH CENTER r tion PERSONS W/ DISABILITIES k in r de in tra ea l,l kil ill, od r, fo be od em go g publicity, outreach p tri re e, ld ac com upplie, donation elo volunteer, intergenerational work,m m e ee mb tin er g p, e rv ac ic e, e do na ite tio n no dev mic creative outlet, learning opportunitie nd m eco ity la CHURCH fie p COMMUNITY GARDEN vity acti m py a r ido the, w teer n lu vo LOCAL HOSPITAL e,, k $, un mm p rhi hola c ill, co LADIES BRIDGE CLUB it er te ng hi lun vo apy /re hab firt reo aid urce up plie BANK ac ther te RETIREMENT CENTER SCHOOLS outlet for craft, network do e nc le n vio rde to ga ity on tiv ac eck ive, ch at rn ion t na te 18 al POLICE culpture, art for garden ARTISTS LOCAL RETAILERS AFFORDABLE HOUSING

5 Mapping Reciprocal Partnerhip EMPTY FACTORIES VACANT SHOPS RUN DOWN SHOPPING AREAS LOSS OF COMMUNITY SPIRIT YOUTH SCICIDE DRUGS ARSON violent crime GAMBLING INTERGENERATIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT illiteracy DISTRUST VANDALISED HOUSING RUBBISH ON STREETS Figure 1: The Need Map Adopted from Kretzmann & McKnight (1993, 3) Buinee and phyical reource GRAFFITI 19 local aociation and intitution public hall ARSON churche art & craft group violent crime GAMBLING ervice club INTERGENERATIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT neighbourhood houe mall buinee locil council chool large corporation Figure 2: The Aet Map Adopted from Kretzmann & McKnight (1993, 7) park

6 Early Organizing Mot likely you ll be tarting your project with jut a few people who want a garden, but to take advantage of the aet available to you and ditribute tak, you ll need to expand your core group early on. One option i to reach out to an etablihed community group that i already linked to one of your core garden team member. Thi group might be a church group, a garden club, a neighborhood aociation, a Home Owner Aociation, a book club, etc. Thi take advantage of exiting relationhip in which people have worked or ocialized together. However, another option i to tart your own group baed on recruiting pecifically for the community garden. Member If you re tarting a new group or building on an exiting one, think about trying to recruit people from the variou poke on your initial aet map. The benefit that you braintormed can be ued a talking point when you peak with potential recruit. Type of people and group that you hould recruit might include: 1. Neighbor: Mot likely whoever i tarting the garden will be a reident of the community; neighbor will be the people uing the garden mot A city or county repreentative: A takeholder uch a a repreentative from the park and recreation department, development ervice or from a local planning group can help with leaing public land, explain building code regulation, etc. 3. Gardening expert: Mater Gardener, other nonprofit gardening group, local farmer who might donate knowledge, material, or labor. 4. Local buine owner/manager: Thee people may have material or fund to donate; look into local hardware tore, garden tore, retaurant, etc. 5. Community group repreentative: People who belong to the local PTA, churche, houing aociation, etc. 6. Teacher, chool adminitrator, and/or chool ditrict repreentative: Thee people will be able to help with recruiting intereted gardening familie; in the next leon we dicu the option of joint ue garden that link chool and communitie, which will require cloe contact with a chool. 7. Land owner or repreentative of the land owner: If it i city-owned land, thi might be a park repreentative who can help you deal with land ue regulation and advocate for the garden.

7 Step to Take The following i an example of the very firt tep to take to get the community garden project under way. 1. Each initial organizer (thi may jut be you and a friend!) braintorm all the people he or he know in the community who may have interet in joining the effort. 3. Schedule a kick-off meeting at a time and place that will work for many people. Ue your potential collaborator tated availability and your ene of your expected attendee availability to chedule the meeting. 4. Create a clear agenda for the meeting. It hould at minimum include the following, and pecify the allotted time for each cheduled item: a. introduction of attendee b. overview of the agenda and goal for the meeting c. initial thought on the garden from the initial planner and any plan that have already been made d. time for each attendee to tate their goal for the garden e. open dicuion time f. Next tep (pell out clear action and goal for each intereted participant that will be accomplihed by a tated date; making expected action clear and known to the whole group will increae action after the meeting) g. chedule the next meeting 5. Chooe a meeting leader, note taker, and timekeeper (doen t have to be three different people if you are tarting with a mall group) 6. Conduct the meeting a tated in the agenda, and with open-mindedne toward new goal, aet, connection, and relationhip. 2. Make peronal contact (phone or in-peron i bet) with each of thee potential collaborator to dicu the project and the mutual benefit if they join, ae their interet and availability, and draw on their contact for other poible recruit. A peronal contact and requet can greatly increae the chance of omeone chooing to participate. Quetion to ak in thi converation: a. What benefit do you ee for yourelf/your family/your buine/the community from a community garden? b. What kind of garden do you enviion? c. What kill might you be able to bring to the effort? d. Would you be intereted in joining the core group to manage the garden? If not, how would you like to be involved? e. What i your availability for meeting? f. Who ele would you ugget we get in touch with? 21

8 Reference 1. INRC Organizer Workbook. Aet Baed Community Development Intitute. Available 2. Kretzmann, J. & J. McKnight Building Communitie from the Inide Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community Aet. The Aet-Baed Community Development Intitute, Intitute for Policy Reearch, Northwetern Univerity, Evanton, Illinoi. Available 3. Toronto Community Food Animator How to Start a Community Garden Handbook. Toronto Community Garden Network. Available 22