Jody Kretzmann and John McKnight, co-directors of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University, were honored with the Entrepreneurial American Leadership Award for their work in community development. This prestigious award was presented by Washington, D.C.-based Partners for Livable Communities at its "Celebration of Vision and Community Spirit" awards program on March 9 in Washington, D.C. According to Partners for Livable Communities, a national nonprofit organization working to restore and renew communities, "Jody Kretzmann and John McKnight have together helped redefine a paradigm, shifting the pathologies of despair in communities into strengths and assets." As Co-Directors of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute, a research project of the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University, and through their popular 1993 book Building Better Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets, their ideas have influenced the field of community change.
Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), the strategy outlined by Kretzmann and McKnight in their book, is an approach to community development that emphasizes the assets and strengths a community has as building blocks to reinvigorating the community, as opposed to the more traditional 'needs-based' approach, where the severity of problems defines the community. According to this philosophy of defining communities by their capacities and the strength of their relationships, culture and commitment to change, the positive energy becomes the most powerful and direct method toward community mobilization and development.
Kretzmann and McKnight's approach to facilitating ABCD has influenced leaders from grassroots organizers to foundation presidents. Since 1993, over 70,000 copies of their book have been sold. A number of major foundations such as the Ford Foundation and the United Way have restructured community development programs around ABCD. In addition, Kretzmann and McKnight have changed the way communities think about themselves and about their futures, offering hope, strength and solidarity instead of need and destitution.
At the awards event, Partners for Livable Communities honored nine individuals and communities throughout the country that have put either new assets or renewed assets to work as part of their respective community's future. For 30 years, Partners has celebrated the leadership of people, institutions, and partnerships that have discovered unique assets that communities can build upon to become a more livable place.
Last Modified: 8/14/09