Joe Erpenbeck

Remembering John I first heard John McKnight speak about Asset Based Community Development twenty-five years ago to a small group of parents of kids with disabilities. I carried the notes from that conversation in my backpack for years as a reminder to see the...

Recently I met with a group of residents of 100 Mile House in British Columbia. We spent some time identifying many of the assets in their community and identifying ways to discover more with an asset based lens. We learned that the value of their asset map is...

ABCD is all about using the strengths in your community. How have you seen your community use its assets? Let’s celebrate local initiatives like ReNewport and the tree planting groups; a great partnership of residents, non profits, local and federal gove...

What is Asset Based Community Development (ABCD)? ABCD empowers communities to recognize and build on the strengths they possess. Instead of focusing on the gaps, we focus on the assets to unlock the potential. I first learned about ABCD through a meeting with...

I saw the old Air Force plane from a distance as I started the bike trail around the small airport. As I completed the loop I went to see if I could get a closer look at the plane. At a fence I noticed another biker looking studying the plane and that there we...

Back in 2007 I had been facilitating this team of community connectors for 10 months when John McKnight visited us to hear about our experience and learning. We each shared stories of the assets in community and the impact of connections and contribution for p...

“Love” your neighborhood. A team of community connectors that I support recently shared stories of the assets they had discovered over the past several weeks and the ways that they were engaging with each asset. As I listened to the stories I thoug...

Many Things Growing at the Community Garden The sun had just come up and was making its way over the far hillside, so mist was still hanging on the multitude of plants that are growing in the 39 plots at the community garden. After being away for 6 days on a w...

The man walking up the river shore was holding a fishing pole and I was curious about what he had caught. As I got closer, I saw that he had a kite attached to his line. I told him I was going to ask what he caught this morning and he laughed and said he [&hel...

“Palaces for the people” was a phrase used when businessman Andrew Carnegie donated money to build 2,950 libraries across the world. I have been rereading the book Palaces for the People by Eric Klinenberg which focuses on the value of shared space...