Community Partnership Development: Integrating Community Asset Mapping

within 4-H Afterschool

Jennifer Snook-Hall, 4-H Youth Development SpecialistKeli Tallman, 4-H Youth Development Specialist

Iowa 4-H Afterschool In-ServiceNovember 29, 2006

Session Topics• What is community capacity building?• What are the benefits of community

capacity building?• How can you begin mapping your

community assets/partnerships?• How have after-school/out-of-school time

programs integrated community assets/partnerships within their programming outreach efforts?

What Are Your Community’s Assets?

• Take a few minutes to think about the strengths of the 4-H community that you represent.

• On the note card, identify the community partnerships that help support these strengths.

Community Capacity Building

• An asset-based community development framework

• Emphasizes a community’s strengths and resources

• Relationship driven between and among community partners

• Community asset-map versus community needs map

Importance of Mobilizing a Community’s Capacities…

• Youth grow, learn, work, and play within a variety of community settings

• Youth connect with a variety of positive adult role models• Availability and breadth of youth programming is

strengthened • Resources are expanded including staff, volunteers,

materials, program space, funding, etc.• Quality youth development programming and youth-adult

partnerships become a shared responsibility• Community unity is reinforced• Programs are more likely to be sustainable

Community Asset MappingMobilizes community resources in the areas of…

• Individual Citizens– Family Members– Friends– Neighbors

• Citizen Associations- Kiwanis- National Honor Society- Rotary

• Institutions- Agencies- Businesses- Organizations

Mapping Your Community’s Resources

• At your table, brainstorm the citizens, citizen associations, and institutions that make-up your 4-H community

• You may need to think of your 4-H community in terms of a county, town, city, or neighborhood

• Record the brainstormed community partners/resources on the newsprint

Linking to Community Partners• Select one community entity that your County

Extension Office would like to create a partnership with within the next three months.

• Describe and be willing to share with others at your table how the newly created partnership would strengthen your County Extension Office’s 4-H Afterschool/out-of-school time outreach efforts.

• How would youth be meaningfully involved with the partnership?

Integrating Community Assets/Partnerships within After-School/Out-of-School Time

Programming

• Quilting enrichment program with middle school students

• Service learning fundraiser for children at a hospital’s burn unit

• Nutrition and gardening enrichment project with elementary school students

For More Information

• If you would like to receive technical assistance on mobilizing community partners in support of quality after-school/out-of-school time opportunities for children and youth, please contact Keli Tallman, State Youth Development Specialist, at 515-294-0688 or at ktallman@iastate.edu to schedule a visit.

PowerPoint Resources• Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing A Community’s Assets (John

Kretzmann and John McKnight, 1993)

• The Asset-Based Community Development Institutehttp://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/abcd.html

• Beaulieu, L. Mapping the Assets of Your Community: A Key Component for Building Local Capacity. SRDC Series #227. Mississippi State, MS: Southern Rural Development Center, 2002. (http://srdc.msstate.edu/publications/227/227_asset_mapping.pdf)

• Community Toolbox (http://ctb.ku.edu/tools/en/chapter_1003.htm)

Resources Continued

• Community Guide to Helping America’s Youth(http://guide.helpingamericasyouth.gov)

• Reconnecting Youth & Community: A Youth Development Approach (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, 1996)

• Partners in Community Leadership: Youth and Adults Working Together for Better Communities (North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, 1993)

• Community Programs to Promote Youth Development (by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, 2003)