Together for Hope works through Asset-Based Community Development, or ABCD. The approach starts with what a community already has: its residents’ skills and gifts, its associations and congregations, its local institutions, and its land and history. Residents set the direction, and outside partners support their plans.
For coalition members, churches, and volunteers who want to go deeper, these resources are a good place to start.
Organizations
- ABCD Institute
- ABCD Institute Resource Page
- ABCD in Action
- Abundant Community
- Positive Rural Development, from Luther Snow
- Rural Assembly
For congregations
- ABCD Institute faith-based resources
- The Power of Asset Mapping: How Your Congregation Can Act on Its Gifts, by Luther Snow
- The Organization of Hope: A Workbook for Rural Asset-Based Community Development, by Luther Snow
- Political Discipleship
- Seeking Shalom curriculum, from the Lupton Center
- Catholic Rural Life
Community organizers
Books and curriculum
- The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods, by John McKnight and Peter Block
- Practicing Community Development, 2nd edition, by Donald W. Littrell and Doris P. Littrell
- Luther Snow’s publications
- Lupton Center publications
- Prospering from Community Assets
Talks to watch
- When Trying to Solve Problems Does Not Solve Problems, a TEDx talk by Bill Stanfield
- Building on the Strengths of Communities, a TEDx talk by Angela Blanchard
