Community Asset Building

Authentic and transformational community ministry honors the cultural wealth within a community. Rather than assuming communities are defined by their weaknesses and in need of external help, this approach recognizes their internal strengths. Ministries that lean in, listen, and learn—while valuing, elevating, and celebrating a community’s cultural wealth—become better partners. By collaborating with community members, they help create impactful programs that benefit everyone.

Participants will:

• Recognize the significance of honoring and valuing the cultural wealth that exists within communities.
• Analyze common misconceptions about disenfranchised and other communities and explore how a strengths-focused approach leads to more authentic, effective, and reciprocal partnerships.
• Cultivate listening and learning strategies to engage genuinely with community members.
• Employ collaborative principles that enable communities rather than enforcing extraneous remedies.
• Commit to the hard work of HEART-work by recognizing and addressing conscious and unconscious bias as lifelong learners.