Mapping Community Assets & Building partnerships

Mapping Community Assets&Building partnerships

Why develop partnerships? • More minds, diverse ideas to tackle issues • Increase the impact • New leadership or expertise • Increase resources • Broaden the scope • More advocates for your cause

Drawbacks/challenges • Weak partners • Compromise • Less control • Inequality of power • Individual organizations may not get credit • Contributions vary • Time and resources to develop and maintain

Mutually beneficial partnerships Community work… It’s all about relationships! KEY PARTNERSHIP PRINCIPLES: FIRST… • People and organizations are motivated by their self-interest. Find and appeal to your common self-interests, and find your common interest. SECOND… • Partnership-building is a dynamic process that requires continuous attention and effort.

Mutually beneficial partnerships THIRD… • Like with all relationships, it’s important that at an early stage of development, partners learn to deal with conflict. FOURTH… • Use what resources and time are available, and adapt. Tap into existing resources – start building relationships; be friendly with groups that have similar goals; cooperate, coordinate or collaborate where it makes sense.

Types of Partnerships Transactional to Transformational Collaboration Coordination Cooperation Relationships Risk and Rewards Roles Resources Low intensity to High intensity

Stages of partnerships • Assess: Identify needs and assets • Prepare: Begin building relationships • Frame issues: Establish terms • Make decisions: Create a plan, manage conflict • Implement decisions: Carry out plan, monitor • Maintain relationships: Evaluate, adapt to changes

Assessing & Preparing:An asset-based approach • Complementary to needs-based approach • Start with the strengths and resources that exist, not what is absent • Creative solutions to complex problems • Opens up new ways to address key issues: new patterns, new ideas, new energy, new relationships • Empowering: sees people/communities as citizens and producers, not just clients and consumers • Relationship-driven

Asset-Mapping

Asset-Mapping Activity • Each group has a card with a community issue or need • Individually list 10 assets within a 4-block (1-mile) radius of your home that could help address the issue or need • In your group, share your ideas and debrief: • What were some of your common themes? • What were some of the more creative matches made between the community need and assets? • How might this approach be applicable to your VISTA service?

Asset mapping: a place to start • Document the assets (strengths) in your community • Strategize how best to use resources/understand community • Starting point for building partnerships • Helps break down silos and build positive community • Dynamic: continue to update as community/resources change • Format can be creative

Needs Mapping • Collect info on weaknesses and challenges facing community • Helps determine needs for new/expanded services • Can help with accessing funding resources • Increase community understanding of problems

Needs Mapping BUT… • Ignores capacities and strengths • Sees outside experts as only resources for help • Problems have to be seen as increasing in order to get funding • Community believes it is deficient • Targets isolated clients, not energies of entire community

Asset Mapping: What to Include • Collect info on capacities, skills, strengths of individuals and groups • Might include: • Individual assets • Institutional assets • Physical space • Neighborhood economy • Informal associations • Relationships and networks • Stories/history of a community • Programs/services • Keep in mind: Complement, not supplant existing strategies

Assets vs Needs Map Assets Map Needs Map

Before you map • How will you define your “community” that you are asset-mapping? • Specific population, geographic boundaries, faith/ethnic/racial community, etc • Who will help you in this process? • Start with your supervisor! • What type of info will you gather and from whom? • What info do you already have? • What resources and partnerships already exist? • Start with your VISTA site! Get to know your own organization and already existing partnerships, associations, networks, and any already existing asset maps

Before you map (Cont.) • What is the scope and your goal for mapping? • What are your organization’s/program’s goals and objectives, assets/gaps? How will partnership enhance your goals? • What is your process? How will you go about conducting your community asset research? • How will you document your research? What are you going to do with the information you collect? • Community resource guide, searchable database, identify partners for a specific project/task, etc

Documentation • Tools: • Visual map • Community/school/neighborhood tour • Newspaper investigation • Photography • Google maps • Others • Include: • People • Programs/services • Community resources

Documentation: People • Who is at the organization(s) or in the community? (that is relevant to your project) • What do they do? • When and to whom are they available? • How do they communicate with parents, community, stakeholders? How can you best contact them? • What strengths could they potentially bring? • How might they align with your organization/program/project?

Documentation: Programs/Services • What are existing programs and services available in the community (relevant to your project)? • Who do the programs serve? • What services do they provide? • How effective are they at addressing needs? • How might they align with your organization/program/project?

Documentation: Community Resources • Who else is in the community (companies, informal associations, etc)? (relevant to your project) • What do they do? Who do they serve? • Do they have existing partnerships or relationships with your organization? • What resources or strengths do they have relevant to your project? (volunteers, space, services, money, in-kind donations) • How might they align with your organization/program/project?

Next step: Develop partnerships • Identify strategies to approach your potential partners • Negotiate a framework for decision-making and terms of agreement for each partnership • Roles and responsibilities • Structure/management • Credit • Publicity/marketing • Planning and info-sharing • Evaluation • If necessary, formalize with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or Letter of Agreement (LOA)

Questions?Meghan Paul-Cookmpaulcook@mnliteracy.org651-251-9069 Contact

Mapping Community Assets & Building partnerships