Listening is central to Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD). It’s the first step in the Listen–Align–Act–Measure process, and for good reason. We believe residents are the experts of their own communities. Their voices, experiences, and perceptions of place matter deeply, and meaningful change begins by listening to them.
Many communities that pursue ABCD initiatives are considered disinvested. These are places that have been overlooked for time, money, policy attention, and representation. Too often, they have been on the receiving end of well-intentioned outsiders who see a hurting neighborhood and arrive with ready-made solutions to “fix” what they perceive as broken.
While these efforts sometimes bring positive change, they often fail to include residents in the process. The result can be unmet expectations, improvements that aren’t sustained, or even worse, unintended harm or dependency in an already vulnerable community.
This is why listening comes first in a Love Your Neighborhood (LYN) initiative. In fact, we dedicate an entire year to listening. We do this to learn from the true experts: the people who live, work, and play in the neighborhood.
Listening conveys value. For many residents in disinvested neighborhoods, this may be the first time they’ve felt genuinely heard by people who care. Listening builds trust, and trust is priceless for a Lead Agency guiding a LYN initiative. When you listen well and often, you communicate care for residents, their voices, and the place they call home.
As Forrest Gump might say, ABCD and Appreciative Inquiry go together like peas and carrots. Both are strength-based approaches, and AI is a key way to practice ABCD.
Sometimes called Appreciative Interviewing, Appreciative Inquiry is a framework for asking questions that shift focus from what’s wrong to what’s strong. It invites residents and stakeholders into the co-creation of a preferred future by building on existing strengths, successes, and hopes.
The foundational belief is simple but powerful: in every human system, something works, and those elements can be leveraged for positive change (Cooperrider, Whitney, & Stavros, 2008).
By using Appreciative Inquiry within ABCD, we build momentum by identifying a community’s assets, opportunities, and aspirations rather than starting with deficits or problems.
“At its heart, Appreciative Inquiry is about the search for the best in people, their organizations, and the strengths-filled, opportunity-rich world around them… a fundamental shift in perspective to see the wholeness of the human system and inquire into its strengths, possibilities, and successes.”
According to the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry, Appreciative Inquiry is grounded in five core principles:
In a Love Your Neighborhood initiative, the central appreciative topic is residents’ vision for a thriving neighborhood.
Key appreciative strategies include:
Together, these strategies shift individuals and systems from a deficit-based mindset to one rooted in growth and possibility. By employing these strategies in neighborhoods, we can begin to shift the narratives – both internally and externally – from a place of problems to one of possibilities.
Let’s try a simple exercise to show this idea in practice.
Question 1:
What challenges does your neighborhood face?
If you’re like most people, something frustrating likely came to mind. For me, it’s the trash that blows into my yard, a teenage neighbor who races his motorcycle down the street late at night, or the elderly woman down the block who seems painfully lonely.
Now try this:
Question 2:
What does your neighborhood have that makes it great?
Think about people, places, organizations, businesses, attitudes, and shared experiences.
This question has the same goal, understanding the neighborhood, but it reframes the lens. Instead of identifying problems to fix, it reveals assets to build on.
I think about Brookeanne, two streets over, who loves flowers and plants a front-yard garden to beautify her corner, offering free bouquets in the summer. I think about Cindy, who noticed the elderly neighbor’s loneliness and now visits weekly with a hot meal and companionship. I think about the steady stream of walkers and cyclists passing my house, using the sidewalks to get safely to work, school, and nearby stores, evidence that this is a walkable, connected place.
This is the power of Appreciative Inquiry.
While community challenges and pain still surface through this kind of listening, appreciative questions uncover resilience, shared history, and collective strength. Not only does this approach feel better, but it’s also backed by research.
Studies show that a 3:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions is linked to higher levels of flourishing (Fredrickson, 2013). Fredrickson’s Broaden and Build theory demonstrates that positive emotions increase resilience, creativity, openness, and capacity for action (Fredrickson, 2001). Gratitude alone has been shown to improve mental health, strengthen relationships, boost immunity, and increase productivity (Emmons, Froh, & Rose, 2019).
AI increases positive emotion and generative thinking by focusing on abundance rather than scarcity (Bushe, 2007). Importantly, it does not ignore hardship. Instead, it recognizes that growth and learning often emerge from lived challenges.
As Bushe (2007) explains:
“Instead of trying to solve the problem, Appreciative Inquiry generates a collective agreement about what people want to do together—and enough energy to act on it. When that happens, many ‘problems’ get ‘solved’.”
Listening well and creating environments where residents can have an appreciative lens creates the conditions for trust, shared ownership, and lasting change in a LYN Initiative.
Bushe, G. R. (2007). Appreciative inquiry is not (just) about the positive. Organization Development Journal, 39(4), 30–35.
Cooperrider, D. L., Whitney, D., & Stavros, J. M. (2008). Appreciative inquiry handbook: For leaders of change (2nd ed.). Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Emmons, R. A., Froh, J., & Rose, R. (2019). Gratitude. In M. W. Gallagher & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Positive psychological assessment: A handbook of models and measures (pp. 317–332). American Psychological Association.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218
Fredrickson, B. L. (2013). Updated thinking on positivity ratios. American Psychologist, 68(9), 814–822. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033584
Stavros, J. M., Godwin, L. N., & Cooperrider, D. L. (2015). Appreciative inquiry. In W. J. Rothwell, J. M. Stavros, & R. L. Sullivan (Eds.), Practicing organization development: A guide to leading change and transformation (4th ed.). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119176626.ch6
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