Community Mapping should map out both the needs and issues in tandem with the assets that can then be drawn on to address those needs and issues.
One way to approach community mapping is to draw on a range of different information gathering techniques appropriate to the various stakeholder groups in the community: residents, organizations, institutions, and businesses.
Our approach would adapt to the unique nature of each project. A comprehensive scan of assets and needs would include: • Creating an inventory of services • Identifying gaps, duplication and fragmentation • Better understanding current relationships – not only among organizations, but also among various social and physical elements within the community • Building on those relationships and/or forging new ones to strengthen collaboration and effectiveness Much of the work in community mapping draws from the work of John McKnight and Jodie Kretzman of the Asset Based Community Development Institute, in which they encourage communities to conduct ‘asset inventories’ in order to base development on the strengths of the communities rather than the needs. Using this approach, the asset inventory surveys are conducted by community members, and the process of doing so generates a sense of community and lays the groundwork for action to begin to happen at the community level.
Our approach to Participatory Evaluation is based on Participatory Action Research (PAR). A fundamental principle of PAR is that those most affected, ‘the community,’ will be engaged in the process. Research is action oriented and addresses barriers to involvement in the service and the community.
Evaluation methodology and community involvement will vary by project. For example, a project may run the gamut from having community members plan and implement the project, to training community members as research assistants, then to having an active community advisory committee.