CommunityDevelopment

Community Resrcs

"I have moments of real terror when I think we may be losing this generation. We have to bring these people into the active life of the community and make them feel necessary."

~Eleanor Roosevelt 1934

"Vital community: one in which all members of the community understand how what they do impacts the rest of the community."

Community Development

On this page you'll find a listing of community organizations and neighbor organizations, basic principles of Asset-Based Community Development and of Christian Community Development, and links to some of the community development initiatives in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area.

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)

Building from Strength
by John E.Walker
Northeast Assets Leadership Project

Too often when approaching community improvement, people focus on what is wrong and requires fixing. Now there is a better way. Instead of occupying themselves with a community’s deficits, forward-thinking organizations are identifying and building on local assets. After all, even the most troubled community has strengths. Once people’s eyes are opened to community assets, a positive energy for change takes over.
A growing community-organizing movement, asset-based community development
(ABCD), posits that the glass is half full rather than half empty. Rather than focus on community deficits like crime, vandalism, unemployment, or drugs, ABCD aims to identify and mobilize the positive attributes inherent in local government, businesses, nonprofits, voluntary associations, and individuals.
Asset-based community development evolved from 1970s research and organizing in Chicago communities. Working up from the block to the regional level, ABCD leveraged community assets to address poverty, public health, human services, education, and criminal justice.

Building Communities From the Inside Out

ABCD IN ACTION:

When People Care Enough to Act

Mapping Community Capacity

Asset-Based C0mmunity Development

-- An Overview

Asset-Based Community Development Institute

Christian Community Development

Principles	Click here for *Christian Community Development Principles*
Association	For more on Christian Community Development, go to the *Christian Community Development Association* website
Organizations	Click here for *Community Development Organizations* and *Neighborhood Associations* (for Google's list of GR Neighborhood Associations, click here)
Community Initiatives	*Delta Strategy* serves as a catalyst for social change by fostering community learning and problem-solving.
Community Initiatives	The *Michigan Organizing Project* (MOP) is a faith-based organization in Western Michigan working for social and economic change in Muskegon, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.
Community Initiatives	The *Grand Rapids Area Center for Ecumenism* (GRACE) is a religious, non-profit, directorship corporation whose volunteers and staff provide educational, advocacy, and social justice programs focusing on hunger, HIV/AIDS, racial justice, poverty, restorative justice, and transportation