1. SSC382
Models of Community
Intervention Part B
Multi-modal Approach &
Asset Based Intervention

2. Cultural Shifts
• In Western culture there is the shift from:
– Independence to interdependence
– Melting pot to multiculturalism and pluralism
– Cultural pluralism, when small groups within a
larger society maintain their unique cultural
identities.

3. Common Focus
• They reflect an awareness of environmental
effects on members of the community
• They share a perception of clients as whole
persons who possess a range of personal
strengths and resources as well as limitations
• They reflect a desire to prevent the debilitating
problems that occur daily in schools and
communities.

4. Common Focus
• They strive to understand the unique
needs and experiences of persons from
diverse cultural, ethnic and racial
backgrounds.
• They reflect an understanding that
individuals and communities alike become
stronger when people learn to help
themselves.

5. This model will challenge us to…
• Move from a Eurocentric and
individualistic approach, common to the
traditional counseling paradigm that
values the promotion of individual
autonomy, independence, self-esteem,
and self actualization to exploring the role
of collectivism, interdependence, and
diverse family systems in a context of multi
ethnic and racial communities. (Atkinson
et al, 1998; Ivey et al., 2002)

6. Make sure we understand…
• This is not a condemnation of the values
of either model, but rather a plea to be
open to a new way of looking at things
given the challenges we face in an ever
changing world.

7. Multi - Modal
• In a perfect world, one might consider
using one approach to Community
Development. Ie.,
• Locality Development
• Policy and planning
• Social Action
• However, it is much more realistic to view
problems and solutions using a multimodal
approach.

8. • What do you do when you meet a bear on
the trail?
• ANSWER: It depends….

9. Multi-modal (cont.)
• Your ability to act may be limited by any
number of factors;
– Your role
– Limitations in your agency
– The resources available
– The response of the community
• Is there a willingness in the community to work
together and have some level of focus? If so…
• Try locality development
– How your interventions are received by others

10. Multi-modal (cont.)
• When problems are evident and agreed upon in
the community and lend themselves to
programmed solutions through the use of factual
information, the social planning approach may
be the way to go
• If the groups are hostile and interests are not
reconcilable through usual discussion and
negotiation, it may be useful to engage in social
action.

11. Multi-modal (cont.)
• You need to “…assess when one or
another form of intervention is or is not
appropriate, the practitioner takes an
analytical, problem solving stand and does
not become the rigidified captive of a
particular ideology or methodological
approach to practice…”
• (Rothman, et al., 2001)

12. Asset-based Community
Development
• The following slides are from McKnight
and Kretzmann, (1993) Building
Communities from the Inside Out.
Chicago, Ill., Institute for policy research,
Northwestern University.

13. • It is not uncommon to find an assets based
project that focuses on one or two local assets.
(focusing on developing new relationships and
influence for a particular school, church, park or
community organization.)
• The challenge is to do a more comprehensive
asset-based strategy that includes the entire
community in a process of regeneration.

14. Five Steps Toward Whole
Community Mobilization
• 1. Mapping completely the capacities and
assets of individuals, citizens’ associations
and local institutions.
• 2. Building relationships among local
assets for mutually beneficial problem
solving.
• 3. Mobilizing the community’s assets fully
for economic development and information
sharing purposes.

15. Five Steps…. Cont.
• 4. Convening as broadly representative a
group as possible for purposes of building
a community vision and plan.
• 5. Leveraging activities, investments and
resources from outside the community to
support asset-based, locally-defined
development.

16. These five steps have three things
in common…
• Asset – based
• Internally focused
• Relationship driven

17. Five Steps Expanded
• Step 1 Mapping Assets
• What resources do we have to solve this
problem ourselves?
• An ongoing process of locating and
making inventories of the gifts and
capacities of individuals, citizens’
associations and local institutions

18. Five Steps….cont.
• Step 2 Building Relationships
• You need strong relationships between
community members and assets
• The community gets stronger every time
residents are linked with strangers and others
for the purposes of solving problems.
• A synergy develops with a view to the
community’s potential to address issues using
their own capacities.

19. Five Steps…. Cont.
• Six point community asset checklist for building
relationships.
• We have found and mobilized
– 1. The capacities of individuals
– 2. The gifts of “strangers”
– 3. The associations of citizens
– 4. Local private, public and non-profit institutions
– 5. The community’s physical assets
– 6. The capacity finders and developers

20. Five Steps … cont.
• Step 3 Mobilizing for economic
development and information sharing
• A. Developing the local economy
– Locate and mobilize the skills of individuals
who can assist with this process.
– Encourage local citizens to make their own
contributions to the neighborhood economy.
– What new possibilities exist for the new
markets and economic activity?

21. Five Steps…. Cont.
• Step 3 cont.
• B. Controlling community information
– Any community which is seriously engaged in
the work of regeneration must assume greater
control over the images which help to define
it.
– Where is the “village well”? Places of
greatest social interaction and exchange of
ideas.?

22. Five Steps …cont.
• Step 3 B continued:
– From there, the ideas and plans must be
circulated and kept alive through social
networks, local news papers, radios, etc.
• Step 4: Convening the community to
develop a vision and a plan
– Who are we? What do we value the most?
Where and what do we want to be in five even
ten years?

23. Five Steps…cont.
• Step 4 cont.
– The community needs a common identity and
a broadly shared vision in order to sustain it’s
growth and development.
– The power of consensus building can lead to
a plan. This process can set the tone for the
entire regeneration effort.
– Having a vision or visions of what could be…

24. Five Steps … cont.
• Step 4: (continued)
• Three commitments are necessary in
order to attract and coordinate the full
array of local capacities.
– A. Begin with assets: not needs or problems
– B. Expand the table; not just the visible
leaders. Who are the representatives of the
community assets? Ensure there are
representatives from all aspects of your
community.

25. Five Steps….cont.
• Three commitments… cont.
Step 4 - C.
C Combine planning with problem solving.
• Problem solving in the here and now so that the
longer range strategizing will remain connected to
the present and citizens will experience positive
results from their participation.
• A planning process which solves problems as it
evolves can mobilize an entire community around
it’s capacity and vision.

26. Five Steps… cont.
• Step 5: Leveraging outside resources to
support locally driven development.
– This important step comes in last.
– Only when the capacities of local individuals,
associations and institutions have been
inventoried thoroughly;
– They are connected for problem solving,
information is gathered and dispersed,
citizens are solving problems together and
have set out a shared vision and strategies.

27. Five Steps…. Cont.
• (Step five continued)
• Only then do we look outside the
community for help
– What are we missing?
– Who else could assist us?
– Expand the influence of the community to
broader systems

28. Discuss findings from Student
Papers
• Start in small groups and share what you
found in the scriptures that really helped
you solidify your “Theology of Ministry”.
• With the whole class share some of your
group findings.

29. Student Ideas
• Not to be served but serve (Jesus example)
• Love God and your neighbor as yourself
• James (favoritism, equality) Pure religion
• Don’t expect a return when you give
• Luke 12:48 If you have been blessed we need
to share that
• Mark 12: Widows mites gifts out of poverty
• Deut 15:11, be open handed to those in need
• Fair judgment and treatment. Social
responsibility

30. • Deut: leave some of the harvest for those
in need
• Matt. Jesus spent time with the poor,
sinners, etc.
• Phil: Jesus example of humility
• 1John 3: 16 Jesus laid down his life for
us.
• Is: Not justice, God was appalled

31. • Is: 1:17 Learn to do good and advocate
• Job: His reasoning fro his innocence
• Deut: Importance of loving God
• Prov. 14:21