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CHW 101: Foundations: Role, Ethics and the Upstream Lens
101.5 Assets and Community Assessment
Mapping what we already have and reading the data about our community
Your materials
Slides (PowerPoint) Handout (Word)
For instructors
Facilitator guide Printable pre and post tests Quiz (LMS import)
What you will learn
- Explain the Asset-Based Paradigm and asset-based community development
- Name six kinds of community assets with local examples
- Complete a simple asset map for a neighborhood
- Find and read local health data and needs assessments
Start here
If you had to fix one problem on your street with no new money, who and what would you call on first?
Lesson
Two ways to see a neighborhood
Needs only
- Starts with what is broken or missing
- Residents are seen as clients to be served
- Waits for outside money and experts
- Help comes in, then often leaves
Assets first
- Starts with the gifts the community already has
- Residents are leaders and solution makers
- Combines what is here in new ways
- Builds power that stays in the community
The Asset-Based Paradigm
Our program is built on Dr. Gina Weisblat's Asset-Based Paradigm:
- Assets are already here: Communities hold people, places and groups whose strengths are often unseen and underused.
- Combine in new ways: Change comes from linking existing assets, across groups and systems, to meet today's needs.
- Community as solution: The community is both the place of the challenge and the strongest solution maker.
Six kinds of community assets
| Asset type | Examples near us |
|---|---|
| People | Elders, youth, a retired nurse, a barber |
| Associations | Block clubs, churches, mosques, sports leagues |
| Institutions | Schools, libraries, clinics, rec centers |
| Places | Parks, gardens, vacant lots, bus stops |
| Economy | Corner stores, salons, local employers |
| Culture | Music, food traditions, faith, languages, stories |
Asset mapping step by step
- Choose your area: Pick a few blocks or a neighborhood, and a health topic if you have one.
- Walk and look: Take an asset walk with residents. Note places, groups and people you see.
- Ask and listen: Ask neighbors: what is good here? Who do people go to for help?
- Put it on a map: Mark each asset on a paper or online map, by asset type.
- Find connections: Look for assets that could work together in new ways.
- Share it back: Return the map to the community and let residents correct and own it.
Reading the data about our community
Data helps us tell the story with numbers. Start with these tools:
- Hospital CHNAs: Nonprofit hospitals study community health needs every three years and post the report online.
- County health plan: Cuyahoga County partners write a community health improvement plan with shared priorities.
- CDC PLACES: Estimates of health conditions for small areas, including census tracts.
- County Health Rankings: Data on what shapes health in each county, from the University of Wisconsin.
Assets answering a need
- What we see: Seniors in a Lorain neighborhood say they feel lonely and their blood pressure is high.
- Why it happens (upstream): A bus route was cut, the senior center moved, and many seniors live alone after their children moved away.
- What we can build on (assets): A church fellowship hall, a youth group that wants service hours, a library with blood pressure kiosks and a retired nurse.
Situation: the needs-only report
Situation: Your agency gives you a hospital report saying Fairfax has high rates of diabetes and few grocery stores. Your supervisor asks you to plan outreach there next month.
How do you add an asset lens to the plan?
- Read the report's priorities and the data for that area
- Take an asset walk with Fairfax residents and leaders
- List people, groups and places already working on food and health
- Plan outreach with those partners, not around them
Talk it over
- What asset in your neighborhood do outsiders usually miss?
- Who is the person on your block everyone already trusts?
- Which two assets near you could work together in a new way?
Study sheet
The big idea: Every community holds assets; CHWs help find them, connect them and let residents lead the change.
Key points
- The Asset-Based Paradigm says communities hold assets that can be combined in new ways to create change.
- Kretzmann and McKnight's asset-based community development starts with gifts, not just needs.
- Six asset types: people, associations, institutions, places, economy and culture.
- Asset mapping is done with residents, and the finished map goes back to the community.
- Hospital CHNAs, the county health plan, CDC PLACES and County Health Rankings show local health data.
- Numbers show patterns; residents explain what the numbers mean.
Remember
- Six asset types: people, associations, institutions, places, economy, culture
- Nonprofit hospitals do a CHNA every three years
- Asset mapping steps: choose, walk, ask, map, connect, share back
Ask yourself
- What assets do I bring to my community?
- How will I make sure residents own the maps and data I help create?
Vocabulary
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Asset | Something a community already has that can help, such as people, places, groups or skills. |
| Asset-Based Paradigm | Dr. Weisblat's approach: combine existing community assets in new ways to create change. |
| Asset-based community development (ABCD) | An approach that builds on a community's strengths and gifts instead of starting with needs. |
| Asset map | A map or list of the people, groups, places and resources in a community. |
| Asset walk | Walking a neighborhood with residents to see and record its strengths. |
| Association | A group of people who come together by choice, such as a block club or church. |
| Institution | A formal organization such as a school, library, hospital or government agency. |
| Community health needs assessment (CHNA) | A report that studies a community's health problems and priorities, done by nonprofit hospitals. |
| Community health improvement plan | A shared plan by local partners to work on a community's top health priorities. |
| Data | Facts and numbers collected to understand something, such as rates of illness. |
Real-life situations
The food desert
Residents in Hough tell you the nearest full grocery store is a long bus ride away. Many rely on corner stores.
What to do
- Ask residents what food assets already exist, such as gardens, pantries and churches
- Map the assets with them on an asset walk
- Connect food assets that could work together, such as a garden and a church kitchen
- Share the map with the block club and ask what they want to do next
Why: Starting with assets lets residents lead and builds on work already happening.
The data question
A pastor in Glenville asks you if his neighborhood really has more high blood pressure than other parts of the county. He wants facts for his health ministry.
What to do
- Thank him and explain you can help find trusted data
- Look up the area in CDC PLACES and the local hospital CHNA together
- Explain what the numbers mean in plain words and where they come from
- Ask what members of his church see, to add their voice to the numbers
Why: CHWs help communities use real data and add the lived experience that numbers miss.
The overlooked elder
While mapping assets in Slavic Village, a youth volunteer skips Mr. Kowalski, an 80-year-old who sits on his porch every day. The youth says he is just an old man.
What to do
- Stop and talk with Mr. Kowalski together
- Ask what he knows about the street and its history
- Add him to the asset map as a person asset, with his permission
- Talk with the youth about how elders hold knowledge and watch over the block
Why: People are the most important assets. Elders carry history, trust and eyes on the street.
Activity: Mini asset map
About 30 minutes.
- Pick three to five blocks you know well. Walk them in daylight, with a partner if you can.
- List at least two assets of each type: people, associations, institutions, places, economy and culture.
- Mark them on a printed or online map.
- Draw a line between two assets that could work together on a health issue, and write how.
- Look up your area in one data tool and write one fact you learned.
- Post your map and fact in the course discussion.
Post-test
Ten questions. You need 75% to pass, with one retake. Your result is saved in this browser.
Sources
- Weisblat, G. Z., and Sell, K. (2012). An exemplar in mentoring and professional development. Journal of Research Administration, 43(1), 60-84.
- Weisblat, G. Z., and McClellan, J. (2017). Childhood Education, 93(4).
- IRS, Community Health Needs Assessment for Charitable Hospital Organizations, Section 501(r)(3)
- CDC, About PLACES: Local Data for Better Health
- County Health Rankings and Roadmaps
- U.S. Census Bureau, data.census.gov
- Ohio Administrative Code 4723-26-13, Standard curriculum
- DePaul University, ABCD Institute, History
- The Land (2021), HIP-Cuyahoga takes on health disparities in the community
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey takes our nation's demographic pulse each year