Some of the Westwood community gathered and enjoying live music at Jammin' at the James, a summer concert series at St. James, Westwood.
ABC(D)’S OF BUILDING COMMUNITY
Community development is most effective when you begin by building personal relationships. That seems obvious, right? Except that all too often it’s not. Most non-profit organizations are created to deal with specific problems – like cancer research, housing for the poor, mentoring for disadvantaged kids, etc. Their focus is targeted, narrow and often more about delivering specific services than they are about building community.
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To say that Asset Based Community Development (or ABCD) is different would be an understatement. Asset-based community development is focused on identifying and bringing together the people, places, organizations and associations that give a community its unique identity. At their core, assetbased community developers believe that everything needed to improve their community is already in the community. They just need to connect it.
