Maximizing the Assets of a Diverse Community

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Maximizing the Assets of a Diverse Community

• Dallas L. Holmes, USU Extension
• Adapted from an article by Lisa A. Guion and
  Janet Harper Golden, Florida State University
  Cooperative Extension, 2005.

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Needs verses Assets

• Needs
• A gap or difference between a current situation
  and the ideal or desired situation.
• In Extension, the needs assessment tool is used
  to identify what the gaps are, prioritize them,
  and make decisions about what Extension can do to
  help.

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Needs verses Assets

• Assets
• The strength, skills, talents, and capabilities
  within a community that can be used to enhance
  that communitys quality of life.
• In Extension, the asset model should be used to
  recognize that even in the most disadvantaged
  community, there are individuals and
  organizations with talents and abilities.

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Needs verses Assets
Needs Assets
Focus on deficiencies Focus on strengths
Result in fragmentation of responses to local deficiencies Build relationships among people, groups, and organizations.
Make people consumers of services builds dependence on services. Identify ways that people can give of their talents.
Give residents little voice in deciding how to address local concerns Empower people to be an integral part of the solution to community problems and issues
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Types of Community Assets

1. Individual Assets
2. Community Organizations
3. Formal Institutions

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Individual Assets

• Everyone has talents, skills, and gifts relevant
  to community activities.
• Each time a person uses his/her talents, the
  community is stronger and the person is more
  empowered.
• Strong communities value and use the skills that
  members possess.
• Such an approach contributes to the development
  of the community.

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Individual Assets

• Ask people for a list of their knowledge and
  abilities.
• Surveys, direct questions.
• Work with the person to identify which of those
  assets are most valuable or needed in the
  community.

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Individual Assets

• Look at community skills.
• Identify the types of community activities that
  an individual has participated in
• Identify the types of community activities that
  the person would be willing to participate in.

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Individual Assets

• Look at the individuals enterprising interests
  and experiences.
• Identify skills that could be used to launch a
  small business, or that could be used in trade or
  vocation.

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Community Organization Assets

• When used with community associations, groups,
  and organizations, the asset assessment is based
  on the idea that every community has people who
  work together to pursue common goals.
• These groups may be formal or informal, and
  usually function by carrying out three key roles
• Deciding to address an issue of common interest.
• Developing a plan (formal or informal) to address
  the issue.
• Carrying out the plan to resolve the problem

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Formal Institution Assets

• The assets assessment process promotes the basic
  premise that every community has a variety of
  public, private, and not-for-profit formal
  institutions that carry out ongoing community
  functions so that the social needs of a community
  are met.

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Formal Institution Assets

• There are five steps involved in assessing the
  assets of formal institutions
• Recognize that the local institutions represent
  important assets to the community.
• Do an inventory of the institutions existing in
  the community.
• Identify the type of activities in which these
  institutions are involved.

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Formal Institution Assets

• continued.
• Explore the types of links that can be built
  between these institutions, as well as between
  the institutions, local individuals, and informal
  organizations.
• Seek the assistance of local institutions as
  conduits to resources outside the target
  community.

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Formal Institution Assets

• Formal Institutions can help the community by
• purchasing locally
• hiring locally
• training local residents
• developing human resources
• sharing meeting space
• initiating local investment strategies
• mobilizing external resources
• sharing other resources.

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Recognizing Community Assets in Cache Valley

• Clark Israelson, Dr. Allen Young, Dr. Ron Boman
  taught three sessions of a Latino Milking School
  in 2004.

Clark Israelson
Dr. Allen Young
Dr. Ron Boman
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Recognizing Community Assets in Cache Valley

• They recognized both an asset and a need in the
  Latino community in Cache valley
• Asset Latino men can work in agriculture
  without knowing much English and excel at their
  jobs.
• Need Many of them require more training in
  order to get the jobs that they need, but
  training is often offered only in English.

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Recognizing Community Assets in Cache Valley

• The local Herald Journal newspaper did a story
  on the second quarter classes and did a feature
  on one of the participants. Gustavo Pena, grew up
  on a farm in Mexico and milked cows in Oregon for
  more than two years before coming to Utah. Pena
  reported that he had never learned the proper way
  to milk cows and care for dairy calves until he
  came to school at the USU Caine Dairy.

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Recognizing Community Assets in Cache Valley

• The organizers also tapped into an asset of the
  Latino community when they hired Giselle
  Fernandez in 2003 to translate the program.
• As a native Puerto Rican, Giselle was already
  well acquainted with many member of the Latino
  community. She was able to immediately begin
  translating many of our handouts and fact sheets
  for upcoming finance and dairy classes that we
  offered to the Latino community in 2004.

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Recognizing Community Assets in Cache Valley

• In November, 2003, Giselle helped us to
  successfully form a Latino Advisory Council to
  assist us in identifying specific needs of the
  Latino community. The lessons we have learned
  from this group about the culture and the needs
  of the Cache County Latino community have been
  very instrumental in the success of this program.
  We were able to adapt our current programs that
  are very Anglo-oriented, and make them much
  more Latino-friendly.

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Maximizing the Assets of a Diverse Community

• By utilizing the identified assets of the
  community itself, as well as the individuals of
  that community and the community organizations,
  you will get the residents involved in building
  their community into a more cohesive group. The
  residents will feel that they have a stake in
  what is taking place. In other words, if you
  involve the community in programming, you empower
  the members by making them part of the solution.
  --Lisa Guion

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References

• Beaulieu, B. (2002) Mapping the assets of your
  community A key component for building local
  capacity. Mississippi State, MS Southern Rural
  Development Center.
• Guion, L.A., Goddard, H.W., Broadwater, G.,
  Chattaraj, S., Sullivan-Lytle, S. (2003).
  Strengthening programs to reach diverse
  audiences. Gainesville, FL Florida Cooperative
  Extension, University of Florida.
• Kretzmann, J.P., McKnight, J.L., and Puntenney,
  D. (1998). A guide to creating a neighborhood
  information exchange Building communities by
  connecting local skills and knowledge. Chicago,
  IL ACTA Publications.
• Kretzmann, J.P., McKnight, J.L. (1993).
  Building communities from the inside out A path
  toward finding and mobilizing a communitys
  assets. Chicago, IL Northwestern University for
  Urban Affairs and Policy Research.