The Search Institute provides an entire website dedicated to tools and studies related to building "community assets."
Most communities, even when money's tight, are sitting on unacknowledged treasures in the form of other assets - such as human capital. This article shows real-life examples of assets-based management at work.
The Neighborhood Works
Journal
A keynote address by John P. Kretzmann, Co-Director of Northwestern University's Asset-Based Community Development Institute.
With locally-inspired activities that fly in the face of traditional park programs, from bread-baking to puppet shows, Toronto residents created a community place out of a park neglected by locals and city officials alike.
A fable illustrating the value of unearthing all community resources when money is scarce. From Steve Coleman of Washington Parks & People.
Partnerships for Parks gives the rundown on the benefits of reaching out and making connections.
You are not alone! Partnerships for Parks' list shows the range of resources available in your community.
A New York City couple uses its deep roots in a community to cross ethnic divides and restore a drug haven into a flourishing and diverse gathering place.
Three simple surveys designed to obtain a basic evaluation of a park; to elicit feelings from visitors to a park; and to get feelings about a park from members of the community. From Project for Public Spaces, Inc. and Philadelphia Green.
Brooklyn's Prospect Park Alliance developed this simple questionnaire to solicit community input on plans to move and redesign Wollman Skating Rink.
A report from the Pew Partnership for Civic Change claims that the task of community builders is "not to patch the old patterns but to build the loom on which the new patterns will be woven."