ABCD Small Grant Funding – History
Since 2018 The VCS Alliance has administered 8 rounds of ABCD award grant funding and distributed grants totalling £475,213.51 on behalf of Community Partnerships. These grant awards have supported 769 Voluntary Sector organisations to deliver important and impactful work across the Bradford District and Craven.
The VCS Alliance believes that all projects supported through grant awards should be built around the principles of ABCD. We recognise that this can be a daunting proposition if you don’t know what ABCD is, so we have put some useful videos and text below to help you understand Asset Based Community Development. We are sure most of you will see that this is how you are already working.
Asset Based Community Development is about recognising and making use of the assets that are already in the community. All communities share certain things in common, from individuals to organisations such as schools, and places of worship, existing groups, and projects; ABCD builds upon the strengths and capacities each has.
This is an appreciative way of working, appreciative because it appreciates and makes best use of these strengths and capacities or ASSETS and asks, ‘What is right, working’. ABCD recognises that the people that live and work in that community are the experts.
ABCD starts with Asset Mapping, these are,
Assets of individuals: Everyone has assets and gifts. Youth, Age, Enthusiasm, Skills.
Association: People discover each other gifts by coming together in informal groups.
Institutions: These are groups with formal
structures, usually paid, such as business, and banking.
Place-Based: Often people choose to live where they do, nice parks, good leisure facilities, Schools etc.
Connections: All the above are kinds of asset, they are the basis of our social relationships and build social capital.
Everyone has gifts and something to contribute.
People build relationships, relationships build communities.
People at the center, they are not passive
recipients.
People in the lead, making the change.
People care if you give them a reason to care.
Listen: Decisions should come from
conversations where people are heard.
Asking for ideas is more sustainable than giving solutions.
Inside-out organisation: Local community
members are in control.
Videos reproduced with the kind permission of: Herding Together: https://herdingtogether.com/
