Clearinghouse Phase 3: Community Themes and Strengths Assessment

This four-page document provides an introduction to community mapping and includes information on community asset mapping, uses of mapping for youth development, and other forms of conceptual mapping including mapping public capital, cultural mapping, and community relationship mapping. This information is particularly relevant for planning approaches to the Community Themes and Strengths Assessment. More »

This seven-page document introduces John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight's guidebook, "Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets."  Kretzmann and McKnight describe the problems associated with needs mapping and present capacity-focused development as a more productive alternative for community building. Kretzmann and McKnight's guidebook describes a community building path that is asset-based, internally focused, and relationship-driven. This article will be particularly useful for planning and designing the Community Themes and Strengths Assessment. More »

Photovoice is a participatory data gathering process which combines photography with grassroots social action. The process can be used by researchers to gain insight into how community members conceptualize their circumstances. Photovoice has three goals.  It enables people to record and reflect their community’s strengths and problems.  It promotes dialogue about important issues through group discussion and photographs.  Finally, it engages policymakers. More » 

Getting the Lay of the Land On Health: A Guide for Using Interviews to Gather Information is designed to help users determine when and how to use key informant interviews as a means of gathering information. More »