Racialequitytools.org

Mapping Community
Capacity
John L. McKnight
John P. Kretzmann
Institute for Policy Research
Mapping Community Capacity
The Asset-Based Community Development Institute This was a report of the Neighborhood Innovations Network by John L. McKnight and John Kretzmann, 1990 No one can doubt that our older cities these days are deeply troubled places.
At the root of the problem are the massive economic shifts that have marked the last two decades. Hundreds of thousands of industrial jobs have either disappeared or moved away from the central city and its neighborhoods. And while many downtown areas have experienced a "renaissance," the jobs created there are different from those that once sustained neighborhoods. Either these new jobs are highly professionalized, and require elaborate education and credentials for entry, or they are routine, low-paying service jobs without much of a future. In effect, these shifts in the economy, and particularly the removal of decent employment possibilities from low-income neighborhoods, have removed the bottom rung from the fabled American "ladder of opportunity." For many people in older city neighborhoods, new approaches to rebuilding their lives and communities, new openings toward opportunity, are a vital necessity.
Traditional Needs-Oriented Solutions
Given the desperate situation, it is no surprise that most Americans think about lower income urban neighborhoods as problems. They are noted for their deficiencies and needs. This view is accepted by most elected officials who codify and program this perspective through deficiency-oriented policies and programs.
Then, human service systems -- often supported by foundations and universities -- translate the programs into local activities that teach people the nature of their problems, and the value of services as the answer to their problems. As a result, many low-income urban neighborhoods are now environments of service where behaviors are affected because residents come to believe that their well-being depends upon being a client. They see themselves as people with special needs to be met by outsiders. And gradually, they become mainly consumers of services with no incentive to be producers. Consumers of services focus vast amounts of creativity and intelligence on the survival-motivated challenge of outwitting the "system," or on finding ways -- in the informal or even illegal economy -- to bypass There is nothing "natural" about this process. Indeed, it is the predictable course of events when deficiency and needs-oriented programs come to dominate the lives of neighborhoods where low-income people reside.
The Capacity-Focused Alternative
The alternative is to develop policies and activities based on the capacities, skills, and assets of low-income people and their neighborhoods.
There are two reasons for this capacity-oriented emphasis. First, all the historic evidence indicates that significant community development only takes place when local community people are committed to investing themselves and their resources in the effort. This is why you can't develop communities from the top down, or from the outside in. You can, however, provide valuable outside assistance to communities that are actively developing their own assets.
The second reason for emphasizing the development of the internal assets of local urban neighborhoods is that there is very little prospect that large-scale industrial or service corporations will be locating in these neighborhoods. Nor is it likely, in spite of a prospective "Peace Dividend," that significant new inputs of federal money will be forthcoming soon. Therefore, it is increasingly futile to wait for significant help to arrive from outside the community. The hard truth is that development must start from within the community and, in most of our urban neighborhoods, there is no other choice.
Unfortunately, the dominance of the deficiency-oriented social service model has led many people in low-income neighborhoods to think in terms of local needs rather than assets. These needs are often identified, quantified, and mapped by conducting "needs surveys." The result is a map of the neighborhood's illiteracy, teenage pregnancy, criminal activity, drug use, etc.
But in neighborhoods where there are effective community development efforts, there is also a map of the community's assets, capacities, and abilities. For it is clear that even the poorest city neighborhood is a place where individuals and organizations represent resources upon which to rebuild. The key to neighborhood regeneration is not only to build upon those resources which the community already controls, but to harness those that are not yet available for The process of identifying capacities and assets, both individual and organizational, is the first step on the path toward community regeneration. Once this new "map" has replaced the one containing needs and deficiencies, the regenerating community can begin to assemble its assets and capacities into new combinations, new structures of opportunity, new sources of income and control, and new possibilities for production.
Mapping the Building Blocks for Regeneration
It is useful to begin by recognizing that not all community assets are equally available for community-building purposes. Some are more accessible than others. The most easily accessible assets, or building blocks, are those that are located in the neighborhood and controlled by those who live in the The next most accessible are those assets that are located in the neighborhood but controlled elsewhere.
The least accessible are those potential building blocks located outside the neighborhood and controlled by those outside the neighborhood.
Therefore, we will "map" community assets based upon the accessibility of assets to local people. We turn now to a more detailed discussion of each of these Primary Building Blocks -- Assets and Capacities Located
Inside the Neighborhood, Largely
Under Neighborhood Control
This cluster of capacities includes those that are most readily available for neighborhood regeneration. They fall into two general categories: the assets and capacities of individuals and those of organizations or associations. The first step in capturing any of these resources is to assess them, which often involves making Individual Capacities
Our greatest assets are our people. But people in low-income neighborhoods are seldom regarded as "assets." Instead, they are usually seen as needy and deficient, suited best for life as clients and recipients of services.
Therefore, they are often subjected to systematic and repeated inventories of their deficiencies with a device called a "needs survey." The starting point for any serious development effort is the opposite of an accounting of deficiencies. Instead there must be an opportunity for individuals to use their own abilities to produce. Identifying the variety and richness of skills, talents, knowledge, and experience of people in low-income neighborhoods provides a base upon which to build new approaches and enterprises.
To assist in identifying the skills and abilities of individuals, an inventory of capacities can be developed -- a simple survey designed to identify the multitude of abilities within each individual.1 Neighborhood residents have used the "Capacity Inventory" to identify the talents available to start new enterprises. For 1A model "Capacity Inventory" is attached as Appendix A.
example, people have begun a new association of home health care providers and a catering business. Public housing residents in a number of cities have formed local corporations to take over the management of their developments.
They immediately needed to identify the skills and abilities of neighbors in order to be effective. The "Capacity Inventory" provided the necessary information allowing people to become producers rather than problems.
Personal income. Another vital asset of individuals is their income. It is generally assumed that low-income neighborhoods are poor markets. However, some studies suggest that there is much more income per capita than is assumed.
Nonetheless, it is often used in ways that do not support local economic development. Therefore, effective local development groups can inventory the income, savings, and expenditure patterns in their neighborhoods. This information is basic to understanding the neighborhood economy and developing new approaches to capturing local wealth for local development.
The gifts of labeled people. There is rich potential waiting to be identified and contributed by even the most marginalized individuals. Human service systems have labeled these people "retarded, mentally ill, disabled, elderly, etc." They are likely to become dependents of service systems, excluded from community life, and considered as burdens rather than assets to community life.
In the last five years, there have been a growing number of unique community efforts to incorporate "labeled" people into local organizations, enterprises, and community associations. 2 Their gifts and abilities are identified and are introduced to groups who value these contributions. The results have been amazing demonstrations as the "underdeveloped" hospitality of 2A report of these initiatives, The Gift of Hospitality: Opening the Doors of Community Life to Peoplewith Disabilities, is available from the Department of Publications, Institute for Policy Research,Northwestern University, 2040 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208-4100 for $4.00. neighborhood people has been rediscovered and gifts, contributions, and capacities of even the most disabled people are revealed.
Individual local businesses. The shops, stores, and businesses that survive in low-income neighborhoods -- especially those smaller enterprises owned and operated by individual local residents -- are often more than economic ventures.
They are usually centers for community life as well. Any comprehensive approach to community regeneration will inventory these enterprises and incorporate the energies and resources of these entrepreneurs into neighborhood development processes. The experience and insight of these individual entrepreneurs might also be shared with local not-for-profit groups and with students.
Home-based enterprises. It is fairly simple to inventory the shops, stores, and businesses in low-income neighborhoods. However, as neighborhoods become lower income, there is often an increase in informal and home-based enterprise.
Local development groups have begun to make an effort to understand the nature of these individual entrepreneurs and their enterprises. After gathering information about and from them, development groups can identify the factors that initiated such enterprises, and the additional capital or technical assistance that could increase their profits and the number of people they support.
Associational and Organizational Capacities
Beyond individual capacities are a wide range of local resident-controlled associations and organizations. Here is an initial inventory.
Citizens associations. In addition to businesses and enterprises, low-income communities have a variety of clubs and associations that do vital work in assuring productive neighborhoods. These groups might include service clubs, fraternal organizations, women's organizations, artistic groups, and athletic clubs.3 They 3A list of the types of local groups at work in most neighborhoods, "An Associational Map," isincluded as Appendix B.
are the infrastructure of working neighborhoods. Those involved in the community-building process can inventory the variety of these groups in their neighborhoods, the unique community activities they support, and their potential to take on a broader set of responsibilities.4 Then these groups can become a part of the local asset development process. Or they may affiliate in other ways (e.g., by creating a congress of neighborhood associations).
Associations of businesses. In many older neighborhoods, local business people are not organized. Where they are organized, they are not informed about effective joint partnerships in neighborhood economic development. Connecting local businesses with each other and expanding their vision or their self-interest in community development is a major effort of effective community-building activities.
Financial institutions. Relatively few older neighborhoods have a community- oriented financial institution, such as a bank, savings institution, or credit union.
But where they do exist, they are invaluable assets.
One ambitious and successful example of a locally-controlled financial institution is the South Shore Bank in Chicago. The Bank has been a continuing experiment in how to capture local savings and convert them to local residential and commercial development. A related effort in Bangladesh, called the Gameen Bank, is a successful experiment in very small capitalization for small community enterprises. Similar experiments are taking place in the United States involving credit unions. All of these inventions are new tools to capture local wealth for local development. Their presence or potential is a central resource for the future of a 4A guide to inventorying local associations titled Getting Connected: How to Find Out About Groupsand Organizations In Your Neighborhood is available from the Department of Publications, Institutefor Policy Research, Northwestern University, 2040 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208-4100for $6.00.
Cultural organizations. People in low-income neighborhoods are increasingly giving public expression to their rich cultural inheritance. Celebrating the history of the neighborhood, and the peoples who have gathered there, is central to forming a community identity and countering the negative images that originate outside the community. Neighborhood history fairs, celebrative block and neighborhood parties featuring the foods, music, dancing, and games of diverse peoples; cross-cultural discussions and classes; oral history projects, theatrical productions based on oral histories -- all these hold great potential for building strong relationships among residents and for regaining definitional control of the community. In many neighborhoods, local artists are central to the Communications organizations. Strong neighborhoods rely heavily on their capacity to exchange information and engage in discussions. Neighborhood newspapers, particularly those controlled by local residents, are invaluable public forums. So too are less comprehensive media such as newsletters, fliers, even bulletin boards. In addition both local access cable TV and local radio hold promise as vehicles relevant to community building.
Religious organizations. Finally, any list of organizational assets in communities would be woefully incomplete without the local expressions of religious life. Local parishes, congregations, and temples have involved themselves increasingly in the community-building agenda, sometimes through community organizations or community development groups, sometimes simply building on the strengths of their own members and networks. In fact, the ability of local religious institutions to call upon related external organizations for support and resources constitutes a very important asset.
Summary
In summary, then, the primary building blocks include those community assets that are most readily available for rebuilding the neighborhood. These involve both individual and organizational strengths. Our initial list includes: _______________________________________________________________ Individual Assets
Organizational Assets
Skills, talents, and experience of residents _______________________________________________________________ Secondary Building Blocks -- Assets Located within the
Community but Largely
Controlled by Outsiders
Though a good many individuals and associational capacities are already within the control of the people who live in the neighborhood, others, though physically a part of the community, are directed and controlled from outside. To capture these assets for community-building purposes, neighborhood actors will not only conduct inventories but will construct strategies designed to enhance the regenerative uses of these assets. The examples which follow fall into three categories: private and not-for-profit organizations; public institutions and services; and other physical resources.
Private and Non-Profit Organizations
Institutions of higher education. Private and public junior colleges, colleges, and universities, remain in, or adjacent to, many older urban neighborhoods.
However, they are often quite detached from the local community. Community building groups are creating new experiments with partnerships in community development between local institutions of higher education and those who are Hospitals. Next to public schools, hospitals are the most prevalent major institution remaining in many older neighborhoods. They are a tremendous reserve of assets and resources to support initiatives in community enterprise. In a few cases, hospitals have created innovative local partnerships. Creative development groups are exploring the nature of the development assets controlled by their local hospitals.
Social service agencies. Though often dedicated to the delivery of individual service to the clients -- an activity that does not necessarily contribute to community building -- local social service agencies do have the potential to introduce capacity-oriented strategies to their programs. Many, in fact, have begun to see economic development and job creation as appropriate activities, while others have entered into networks and partnerships with community organizations and neighborhood development groups for community-building Public Institutions and Services
Of the range of public institutions and services that exist in low-income communities, a few deserve to be highlighted for their community-building Public schools. Big city schools have often become so separate from local community initiatives that they are a liability rather than an asset. The Carnegie Commission on Public Education has said that the primary educational failing of the local public school is its separation from the work and life of the community.
Therefore, localities need to teach their schools how to improve their educational function by connecting themselves to community development efforts. As an integral part of community life, rather than an institution set apart, the local public school can begin to function as a set of economic and human resources aimed at Police. As with all other local institutions, the police need to participate in the neighborhood revitalization enterprise. Much of the hesitance about new investment of all kinds relates to issues of security. Therefore, local police officials should be asked to join the asset development team acting as advisors and resources to development projects. In a number of instances, responsive police departments have joined with local community organizations and other groups to devise and carry out joint safety and anti-crime strategies.
Fire departments. In both small towns and large cities, the local fire department boasts a tradition of consistent interaction with the community.
Because of the sporadic nature of their important work, firefighters are often available for a variety of activities in the neighborhood. Retrieving and building upon that tradition is an important strategy for community building.
Libraries. Many older neighborhoods contain branches of the public library, often underfunded and under-used. Considered not only as a repository for books and periodicals, but also as the center of a neighborhood's flow of information, the library becomes a potentially critical participant in community regeneration. For example, neighborhoods which choose to enter into a community planning process will need localized information on which to base their deliberations. The availability of library-based personal computers can enhance access to a variety of relevant data bases. The library can also provide space for community meetings and initiate community history and cultural projects.
5A short pamphlet, "A Primer For a School's Participation in the Development of Its LocalCommunity," describes more than 30 educationally sound ideas for involving the local school incommunity development. It is available from the Department of Publications, Institute for PolicyResearch, Northwestern University, 2040 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208-4100 for $1.00.
Parks. In many low-income communities, the local parks have fallen into disrepair and are often considered uninviting and even dangerous. But when local citizens organize themselves to reclaim these areas, they can be restored not only physically, but functionally. As symbols of community accomplishment, they can become sources of pride and centers for important informal relationship building. Often, groups of existing associations will take joint responsibility for renewing and maintaining a local park.
Physical Resources
Besides the private and public institutions in the neighborhood, a variety of physical assets are available. In fact, many of the most visible "problems" of low- income neighborhoods, when looked at from an asset-centered perspective, become opportunities instead. A few examples follow.
Vacant land, vacant commercial and industrial structures, vacant housing.
Most older urban neighborhoods are thought to be "blighted" with vacant lots, empty sites of old industry and unused industrial and commercial buildings.
However, in some U.S. cities, local groups have found creative and productive methods to regenerate the usefulness of both the land and the buildings. They identify potential new uses, create tools to inventory and plan for local reuses, and organize the redevelopment process. Similarly, abandoned housing structures are often structurally sound enough to be candidates for locally controlled Energy and waste resources. The costs of energy and waste collection are relentless resource drains in older neighborhoods. As their costs escalate, they demand a disproportionate and growing share of the limited income of poorer people. As a result, maintenance of housing is often foregone and deterioration speeds up. However, in some neighborhoods, this "problem" has become an opportunity. New local enterprises are developing to reduce energy use and costs and to recycle waste for profit. These initiatives need to be identified, nurtured, Summary
These secondary building blocks are private, public, and physical assets, which can be brought under community control and used for community-building _______________________________________________________________ Private and Non-Profit Organizations
Public Institutions and Services
Physical Resources
Vacant land, commercial and industrial structures, housingEnergy and waste resources _______________________________________________________________ Potential Building Blocks -- Resources Originating Outside the
Neighborhood, Controlled by Outsiders
In this final cluster are resource streams which originate outside the neighborhood, are controlled by institutions outside the neighborhood, but which nonetheless might be captured for community-building purposes.
There is a sense in which all local public expenditures are potential investments in development. However, in low-income neighborhoods they are usually expenditures for the maintenance of an impoverished neighborhood, and for individuals in the absence of work. We need tools and models for converting public expenditures into local development investments. In addition to the public institutions cited above, two other public expenditures are critical.
Welfare expenditures. In Cook County, Illinois, over $6,000 is expended annually by government for low-income programs for every man, woman, and child whose income falls below the official poverty line. This substantial investment ($24,000 for a family of four) is distributed so that on a per capita basis, poor people receive only 37 percent in cash ($8,880 for a family of four) and 63 percent in services ($15,120).6 This creates an impoverished family dependent on services. Creative community groups are developing new experiments where some of these welfare dollars are reinvested in enterprise development and Public capital improvement expenditures. Every neighborhood is the site of very substantial "infrastructure" investments. In downtown areas, these dollars leverage private investment. In neighborhoods, the same funds are usually applied only to maintenance functions. Effective community development groups are creating experiments to convert local capital improvement funds into Public information. Wherever we have seen community innovation in local neighborhoods, the people there have had to gain access to information not normally available. What is the vacancy ratio in the worst buildings? How many teachers have skills that could help our development corporation? What time do the crimes that threaten our shopping center occur? How much property is off the tax roles? What does the city plan to invest in capital improvements? Unfortunately, most useful development planning data is collected for the use of "downtown" systems. But as neighborhoods become responsible for their future, information must be decoded and decentralized for local use.
6The study that documents this pattern of expenditures and recommends alternative uses is titledGovernment Spending For the Poor In Cook County, Illinois: Can We Do Better? Written by DianeKallenback and Arthur Lyons, it is available from the Department of Publications, Institute for PolicyResearch, Northwestern University, 2040 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208-4100 for $7.00.
Some neighborhoods have done pioneering work in developing methods to translate systems data into neighborhood information. This "neighborhood information" is an invaluable asset in the development process.
Summary
These potential building blocks include major public assets which ambitious neighborhoods might begin to divert to community-building purposes. At the _______________________________________________________________ Welfare expendituresPublic capital improvement expendituresPublic information _______________________________________________________________ Two Community Maps
This paper only begins to map the assets that exist in every neighborhood and town. It is a new map that can guide us toward community regeneration.
But, there is another map, an old map of neighborhood deficiencies and problems. As we noted at the outset, it is a "needs-oriented" neighborhood map created by "needs surveys." This is a powerful map, teaching people in low- income neighborhoods how to think about themselves and the place where they This map is initiated by groups with power and resources who ask neighborhood people to think of themselves in terms of deficiencies in order to access the resources controlled by these groups. Among the groups that ask neighborhood people to inventory their problems, needs, and deficiencies are government agencies, foundations, universities, United Ways, and the mass media. Indeed, the institutions that produce this map not only teach people in low- income neighborhoods that their needs, problems, and deficiencies are valuable.
They also teach people outside these neighborhoods that the most important thing about low-income people and their neighborhoods is their deficiencies, problems, In this way, low-income people, helping institutions, and the general public come to follow a map that shows that the most important part of low-income neighborhoods is the empty, deficient, needy part. An example of this Neighborhood Needs Map is on the following page: Neighborhood Needs Map
Slum housing
pregnancy
Domestic
violence
poisoning
dependency
Slum housing
Alcoholism
Illiteracy
Unemployment
Pollution
Boarded-up
families
buildings
Dropouts
Child abuse
Homelessness
Abandonment
It is true that this map of needs is accurate. But, it is also true that it is only half the truth. It is like a map of the United States that shows only that portion east of the Mississippi River. The United States is also the portion west of the Mississippi River, and a map omitting the west is obviously inadequate in the most Similarly, every neighborhood has a map of riches, assets, and capacities. It is important to recognize that this is a map of the same territory as the neighborhood needs map. It is different because it shows a different part of the neighborhood. But the most significant difference about this capacity map is that it is the map a neighborhood must rely on if it is to find the power to regenerate itself.
Communities have never been built upon their deficiencies. Building community has always depended upon mobilizing the capacities and assets of a people and a place. That is why a map of neighborhood assets is necessary if local people are to find the way toward empowerment and renewal. An example of a Neighborhood Assets Map is on the following page: Neighborhood Assets Map
FIRE
DEPTS.
LIBRARIES
EDUCATION
INSTITUTIONS
SOCIAL
SERVICE
AGENCIES
ENERGY/
WASTE RESOURCES
Primary Building Blocks:
Assets and capacities located inside the neighborhood, largely underneighborhood control.
Secondary Building Blocks: ASSETS LOCATED WITHIN THE COMMUNITY, BUT LARGELY
CONTROLLED BY OUTSIDERS.
Potential Building Blocks: Resources originating outside the neighborhood,
Finally, it is important to remember that this assets map is very incomplete because it is new. It does not even begin to identify all of the assets of every community. Therefore, we know that as more and more neighborhood regeneration processes are created, residents will identify many more skills, capacities, riches, assets, potential, and gifts to place on the map.
Using the Capacities Map
Most of the assets listed above already exist in many low-income neighborhoods. They are waiting to be inventoried and turned toward the goal of Different communities will approach this challenge with different strategies.
Leaders in every community, however, will need to consider at least three questions which are central to the rebuilding task.
Which organizations can act most effectively Development Organizations" in our neighborhood? What kinds of community-wide research, planning, and decision-making processes can most democratically and effectively advancethis rebuilding process in our neighborhood? Having inventoried and enlisted the participation of major assetsinside the community, how might we build useful bridges toresources located outside the community? Asset Development Organizations
To begin with, who might lead the community-building process? Where might the necessary Asset Development Organizations be found? Two kinds of existing community associations are particularly well-suited to the task of knitting together a neighborhood's various assets and capacities. The first, already central to the lives of many older city neighborhoods, is the multi- issue community organization, built along the "organization of organizations" model of the late Saul Alinsky. Community organizers already understand the importance of associational life to the well-being of the neighborhood, and to the empowerment of the local residents. A number of these community organizations are beginning to incorporate a capacity-oriented approach to community building The second potential Asset Development Organization is, of course, the community development corporation. Groups that are dedicated to community economic development have often worked hard to assemble the business assets available to the neighborhood. Many have championed strategies emphasizing local purchasing and hiring, and have encouraged home-grown enterprise development. All of these approaches can only be strengthened as the local development corporation broadens and deepens its knowledge of community Together or separately, these two types of community-based organizations are well-suited to the challenge of asset development. But in many communities, neither the multi-issue organizing group nor the development corporation may exist. In these settings, neighborhood leaders face the challenge of creating a new Asset Development Organization. This new organization may be built on the strengths and interests of existing citizens associations, and will challenge those associations to affiliate for these broader purposes.
The Community Planning Process
Having identified or created the Asset Development Organization, community leaders face the challenge of instituting a broad-based process of community planning and decision-making. Capacity-oriented community planning will no doubt take many different forms. But all of them will share at least these The neighborhood planning process will aim to involve as manyrepresentatives of internally located and controlled assets aspossible in the discussion and decisions. In fact, the map ofneighborhood assets provides an initial list of potential participantsin the planning effort.
The neighborhood planning process will incorporate some versionof a community capacity inventory in its initial stages.
The neighborhood planning process will develop community-building strategies which take full advantage of the interests andstrengths of the participants, and will aim toward building the powerto define and control the future of the neighborhood.
Building Bridges to Outside Resources
Finally, once the Asset Development Organization has been identified, and has begun to mobilize neighborhood stakeholders in a broad-based process of planning, participants will need to assemble the many additional resources needed to advance the community-building process. This will involve constructing bridges to persons and organizations outside the neighborhood.
It is clear that no low-income neighborhood can "go it alone." Indeed, every neighborhood is connected to the outside society and economy. It is a mark of many low-income neighborhoods that they are uniquely dependent on outside human service systems. What they need, however, is to develop their assets and become interdependent with mainstream people, groups, and economic activity.
Organizations leading developing communities often create unique bridges to the outside society. These are not to government alone. Instead, they bridge to banks, corporations, churches, other neighborhood advocacy groups, etc. These bridged relationships in the non-governmental sector are vital assets in opening new opportunities for local residents and enterprises.
The task of the Asset Development Organization, then, involves both drawing the map and using it. It involves leading the community interests into capacity- oriented planning and creating the organizational power to enable that process to become the map of the neighborhood's future. The challenge facing the Asset Development Organization, and all of the participants in the neighborhood planning process, is both daunting and filled with promise. However, meeting this challenge to rebuild our neighborhoods from the inside out is crucial to the hopes and aspirations of city dwellers everywhere.
APPENDIX A
CAPACITY INVENTORY V*
Hello. I’m _________________________ with the Uptown Center of Hull House or Howard Area Community Center. We’re talking to local people about what skills they have.
With this information, we hope to help people start businesses. I’d like to ask you some questions about your skills and where you have used them. Your participation is voluntary, and the information is confidential.
PART I. SKILLS INFORMATION
Now I’m going to read to you a list of skills around which people build different kinds of small neighborhood businesses. It’s an extensive list, so I hope you’ll bear with me. I’ll read the skills and you stop me whenever we get to one you have. We are interested in your skills and abilities. These are skills and abilities you’ve learned through experience in the home or with the family, skills you’ve learned at church or elsewhere, as well as any skills you’ve * Prepared jointly by Brandon Neese, Howard Area Community Center; Dennis Marino, Uptown Center of
Hull House; and John McKnight, Northwestern University. Use of this inventory is encouraged and granted
by the designers to not-for-profit neighborhood-based organizations with the condition that they contact John
McKnight, at the folllowing address, regarding how the inventory is used. John McKnight, Northwestern
University, Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, 2040 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208-
4100 (Phone: 847/491-3395; Fax: 847/491-9916).
Maintenance
(IF YES ANSWERED TO ITEMS 1, 2, 3 OR 4,ASK THE FOLLOWING:) Now, I would like to knowabout the kind of care you provided.
Construction of a Building
STOP AFTER #15,IF NO AFFIRMATIVE RESPONSE TO #1-15.
Operating Equipment &
Repairing Machinery
Repairing Radios, TVs, VCRs,Tape Recorders Repairing Heating &Air Conditioning System Serving Food to Large Numbersof People (over 10) Preparing Meals for Large Numbersof People (over 10) Clearing/Setting Tables for LargeNumbers of People (over 10) Washing Dishes for Large Numbersof People (over 10) Operating Commercial FoodPreparation Equipment VII. Transportation
Child Care
Supervision
Selling Products Wholesaleor for Manufacturer How have you sold these products or services? Security
Moving Furniture or Equipmentto Different Locations Are there any other skills that you have which we haven’t mentioned? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ When you think about your skills, what three things do you think you do best? 1. ____________________________________________________________ 2. ____________________________________________________________ 3. ____________________________________________________________ Which of all your skills are good enough that other people would hire you to dothem? 1. ____________________________________________________________ 2. ____________________________________________________________ 3. ____________________________________________________________ What three skills would you most like to learn? 1. ____________________________________________________________ 2. ____________________________________________________________ 3. ____________________________________________________________ Are there any skills you would like to teach? 1. ____________________________________________________________ 2. ____________________________________________________________ 3. ____________________________________________________________ Please describe other special interests or activities that you have been involvedwith (e.g., sports, artistic activities, crafts, crossword puzzles, fishing, gardening,swimming).
_______________________________________________________________ Have you ever organized or helped organize any of the following community activi-ties? (Place check mark (✓), if yes) Have you ever worked on a farm? If so, where and what did you do? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ PART II. WORK EXPERIENCE
Now that we have discussed your skills, we would like to get a sense of your workexperience.
Are you currently employed? Yes ______ No ______ Are you between jobs? Yes _______ No _______ If employed, what is your job title and what skills do you use on the job? ___________________________________________________________ A. Are you employed part-time or full-time? _________________________B. If working part-time, would you like additional work? If not employed, are you interested in a job? Yes ______ No _____A. Full-timeB. Part-timeC. Are there things that would prevent you from working right now? ________________________________________________________ 1. ____________________________________________________________ 2. ____________________________________________________________ 3. ____________________________________________________________ Have you ever been self-employed? Yes ______ No _______If yes, describe: _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ Have you ever operated a business from your home? Yes _____ No _____If yes, describe: _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ PART III. EDUCATION AND TRAINING
How many years of school did you complete? (Please circle) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 (High School Diploma)13 14 15 16 ( College Degree) (Advanced Degree) Have you participated in any training programs that were not part of yourregular school studies? Yes _____ No _____1.
If yes, what kind of training did you participate in? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ What kind of work did that training prepare you for? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ PART IV. ENTERPRISING ATTITUDES AND EXPERIENCE
Have you ever considered starting a business? Yes _____ No _____1.
If yes, what kind of business did you have in mind? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ Did you plan to start it alone or with other people? Did you plan to operate it out of your home? Yes _____No _____ Are you currently earning money on your own through the sale of servicesor products? If yes, what are the services or products you sell? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ What types of businesses are needed in the neighborhood? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ What businesses do we have in the neighborhood which are so unsatisfactorythat we should consider starting new, competing businesses? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ What is the biggest obstacle you face in starting a business? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ PART V. PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: _____________________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________________ Phone: ____________________________________________________________ Age: _______________ (If a precise age is not given, ask whether the person is Thank you very much for your time. We will send you a summary of your responsesand the responses of others to this questionnaire.
Source: ___________________________________________________________ Place of Interview: ___________________________________________________ Interviewer: ________________________________________________________ APPENDIX B
AN ASSOCIATIONAL MAP
Artistic Organizations:
Business Organizations:
Chamber of Commerce, neighborhood business associations,trade groups Charitable Groups & Drives:
Church Groups:
service, prayer, maintenance, stewardship, acolytes, mens, womens,youth, seniors Civic Events:
Collectors Groups:
stamp collectors, flower dryers, antiques Community Support Groups:
"friends" of the library, nursing home, hospital Elderly Groups:
Ethnic Associations:
Sons of Norway, Black Heritage Club, Hibernians Health & Fitness Groups:
Interest Clubs:
Local Government:
town, township, electoral units, fire department, emergency units Local Media:
Men's Groups:
cultural, political, social, educational, vocational Mutual Support
(Self-Help) Groups:
Alcoholics Anonymous, Epilepsy Self-Help, La Leche League Neighborhood and
Block Clubs:
crime watch, beautification, Christmas decorations Outdoor Groups:
garden clubs, Audubon Society, conservation clubs Political Organizations:
School Groups:
Service Clubs:
Zonta, Kiwanis, Rotary, American Association of University Women Social Cause Groups:
Sports Leagues:
bowling, swimming, baseball, fishing, volleyball Study Groups:
Veteran Groups:
American Legion, Amvets, Veterans of Foreign Wars, their Auxiliaries Women's Groups:
cultural, political, social, educational, vocational Youth Groups:

Source: http://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcknight.pdf