Asset-Based Community Development

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is a strengths-based approach to Community Development that begins with what already exists within a community rather than with what is missing, broken or deficient. It focuses on the skills of residents, the capacity of local associations, the resources of institutions, physical and economic assets, and the culture and stories of a place. The central shift is from asking “What’s wrong?” to asking “What’s strong?”

Origins and Development

ABCD was developed by John Kretzmann and John McKnight through work at Northwestern University and was set out in their seminal (seminal is not too strong!) 1993 text Building Communities from the Inside Out. Their work emerged as a critique of needs-based and deficit-driven approaches to human services and urban development. They argued that when communities are primarily described through problems, deficiencies and service needs, residents can become positioned as passive recipients of professional intervention rather than active participants in their own development.

A key practice within ABCD is asset mapping, which identifies the resources already present in a community. These can include individual skills and gifts, local associations and informal groups, institutions such as schools and businesses, physical and economic resources, and local culture, history and stories.

Core Principles

ABCD assumes that communities are producers of their own wellbeing rather than simply consumers of services. Every person is understood to have skills, knowledge or capacities that can contribute to community life, while local associations are seen as particularly important because they provide the relationships through which people organise and act collectively.

Institutions still have an important role, but ideally they support community-led priorities rather than define them. From an ABCD perspective, sustainable development depends on strengthening relationships, local leadership and interdependence rather than increasing dependency on external services. This creates a strong connection with Social Capital because community assets become useful through the relationships and networks that connect people to one another.

Cormac Russell and Contemporary ABCD Practice

Cormac Russell is one of my favourite practioners and speakers on community development. He has played a significant role in extending ABCD practice internationally through Nurture Development and his work with the ABCD Institute. His writing emphasises the importance of neighbourhoods, citizen-led action and the distinction between change done to, for, with and by communities.

This framework reinforces a central principle of ABCD: sustainable change is more likely when communities increasingly lead the process themselves. Cormac also uses the metaphor of a three-lane swimming pool, beginning with what communities can do themselves, then what can be achieved with some external support, and finally what genuinely requires institutional intervention.

Relationship to Community Development

ABCD provides a practical method for applying many of the principles of Community Development. It connects closely with Capacity Building because it seeks to strengthen existing capability rather than assume capacity must always be brought in from outside. It also links strongly with Social Capital because relationships, associations and local networks are treated as key community assets.

ABCD also has an important relationship with Social Justice. Its rejection of deficit narratives and paternalistic practice can support greater community voice, dignity and self-determination. At the same time, critics argue that ABCD can become too locally focused if it ignores structural inequalities, unequal resource distribution or broader political and economic forces. For this reason, ABCD is strongest when used alongside a wider social justice analysis.

Position in this Vault

This is a structural note linking Community Development, Capacity Building, Social Capital and Social Justice. It provides a practical strengths-based framework for understanding how communities can identify, connect and mobilise their own resources while reducing dependence on externally imposed solutions.

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1. Kretzmann, J. & McKnight, J. (1993). Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. ACTA Publications.
2. Russell, C. (2015). Asset-Based Community Development: Looking Back to Look Forward (3rd ed.). Nurture Development.
3. Russell, C. (2020). Rekindling Democracy: A Professional’s Guide to Working in Citizen Space. Cascade Books.
4. McKnight, J. & Russell, C. (2022). The Connected Community: Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighborhoods. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
5. ABCD Institute, DePaul University / Nurture Development — ongoing practitioner resources and training.