Building Communities from the Inside Out…my one book

Sometimes I think it may be human nature to focus on the things we are lacking. We need more food, we need better shelter, we need to feel good about ourselves…the list is endless. Working with nonprofits/ ngo’s, we are often forced to focus on the needs of our organization, our clients, and our communities. Even funders and stakeholders are most interested in knowing what need it is you are filling.

So, it’s easy to understand the tendency of nonprofit professionals to focus primarily on filling those needs. It is rare indeed to focus on identifying, much less utilizing, the strengths and assets of individuals and communities. Yet, this form of empowerment has subtle and powerful consequences for those used to being marginalized and tagged as ‘needy’.

“Building Communities from the Inside Out” is a book that changed my life as a nonprofit professional. It provided validation and evidence for what I hold to be true- that everyone in society has something to contribute and that by recognizing and tapping into the unique skills of individuals, and working collectively, we can progress in ways rarely imagined. It offers an ‘asset mapping’ approach to community development that helps communities identify their own resources. It also shares successful stories that inspire creative thinking on utilizing those resources.

John P. Kretzman, one of the authors, summarizes the value of this asset-mapping approach: “Once these…local assets and capacities…have been mapped and mobilized, a community is well on its way to regenerating itself. Such a community may still, of course, require help from the outside. But it is now in a position to control and define that help, to focus and direct outside resources to the locally generated agenda and plans. Rather than existing as an object of charity, such a community will say to the outside world: we are mobilized and powerful; we are a sure-fire investment” (from the National Housing Institute, September/ October 1995, http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/83/buildcomm.html).

I would like to thank Nancy Schwartz, over at getting attention!, for challenging me to think about the one book that most influenced my life as a nonprofit professional. While there are many books that have influenced me, my one book is definitely “Building Communities from the Inside Out” (Kretzman and McKnight; 1993).  I read it nearly 15 years ago and the lessons it taught are just as relevant today as they were then.

Link to “Building Communities from the Inside Out” on Amazon*.

Disclaimer: this is not a paid endorsement, just an enthusiastic one.