Asset Based Community Development

ABCD stands for Asset-Based Community Development and it refers to a type of community development based on the work of Professors Jody Kretzmann and John McKnight.

ABCD challenges the traditional deficit-based approach that tries to solve urban and rural development problems by focusing on the needs and deficiencies of individuals, neighbourhoods, towns, villages, etc and demonstrates that local assets (people, physical assets etc.) and individual strengths are key to ensure sustainable community development, and that people have a life of their own choosing. ABCD projects enable local people to connect, identify priorities and then engage.

For the past 10 years Croydon Voluntary Action has been at the forefront of pioneering Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) in the London borough of Croydon, working closely with Nurture Development, one of eleven strategic partners of the ABCD Institute, and the lead partner in Europe.

• CVA has led on ABCD programmes in Thornton Heath, South and Upper Norwood, Waddon, Broad Green, Selhurst, New Addington, Fieldway, Heathfield and Selsdon and lobbies to proliferate this approach across Croydon.

• Through ABCD, we invite commissioning processes to engage with people at the neighbourhood level where they live their lives.