An influx of immigrants in a small Minnesota town prompted its residents to organize the “International Friendship Festival” to celebrate its growing diversity. A men’s group in rural California turned an old tavern’s storeroom into a repair shop to fix up bicycles as Christmas gifts for poor children.

These true stories of rural people building on their local assets are among the many told in The Organization of Hope: A Workbook for Rural Asset-Based Community Development, the ABCD Institute’s 11th workbook.

Recognizing the unique circumstances of rural communities, author and ABCD adjunct faculty member Luther K. Snow uses the experiences of nine rural towns to illustrate successful community development projects and draw lessons for other rural communities in their own projects.

The workbook is designed for people who want to maintain their unique rural culture in the face of the realities of rural life—children leaving the community for jobs in the city and corporate farmers gobbling up local land.

Paying too much attention to these realities could make you think the rural glass is half-empty, Snow writes. He prefers to look at it half-full, and when he does, he finds plenty to be upbeat about. “We can easily get out and enjoy nature. We’ve got land and we’ve got space. With rural services, lines are short, hassles are few, and business is easy to take care of…. We are used to getting things done that need to be done, by using what we have on hand.” Rural economies are not exclusively linked to farming, and rural residents are not dependent on outsiders to solve their problems.

The theory behind ABCD is that by mapping a community’s assets—for example, the talents and experiences of residents, the physical spaces of churches and schools, the organization of local associations—it’s possible to organize grassroots efforts to create stronger communities. “By mapping and mobilizing our assets, our quality of life improves—not because we are trying to become more like suburbs or cities, but because we are making more out of our rural strengths,” Snow writes.

For example, the town of Hayfork in Northern California’s Trinity County turned a bleak economic situation into an opportunity for positive community action. When a timber mill closed in 1996, the town lost its main employer and many people moved away from Hayfork to find work. “The town lost more than jobs; it lost community volunteers, childcare workers, Little League coaches, and school board members, leaving holes in the fabric of community life.” Residents joined forces to sew it back together. The Trinity Kids First Collaborative linked schools, churches, individuals, and local businesses to focus on children. One effort involved providing Christmas gifts for the town’s many unemployed families. One group provided toys, another clothing, and another food. A men’s social club restored bicycles in what used to be a local tavern.

A variety of local residents take responsibility for community development in each example. They illustrate two main themes of the workbook: building on assets and “widening the circle.” The town of Hayfork built on its assets by using the talents of local residents. It widened the circle by involving an ever-broadening group of people in the effort to help the children, even residents who normally would not have volunteered.

One Minnesota community learned to widen the circle as it came to celebrate an increase in racial and ethnic diversity. Employment opportunities at a meat processing company brought many new faces to Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, quickly transforming the population to include more than 25% ethnic immigrants.

Town leaders came up with ways to use this new diversity as an asset. They reached out to immigrants to be community leaders, they celebrated the different cultures, and they focused on what old and new residents had in common: schools, churches, the library, parks. One way the town celebrated its diversity was the International Friendship Festival, a major tourist event with food and craft booths from the nations represented in Pelican Rapids. Another effort involved the local library sponsoring art exhibits, and theater and musical performances related to immigration and international culture.

The workbook contains examples of diverse community-development projects, from building the infrastructure to bring water to the colonias communities in New Mexico, to bringing high-tech Internet jobs to Newton County, Arkansas.

“Grassroots, asset-based initiatives are the most effective way to accomplish many public goals,” Snow writes. “We create jobs and economic opportunity more effectively, we develop and build community, and we create hope.”

Look for These Upcoming Publications from ABCD

In coming months, ABCD researchers will produce several new publications that offer more tools to further their asset-based community development strategy. “Seeing Opportunity, Transforming Communities: Learning from Experience,” is the tentative title of an ABCD guidebook designed to help community-based organizations seize new opportunities to stimulate economic development. ABCD is working with Chicago’s Bethel New Life and the Chicago Association of Neighborhood Development Organizations (CANDO) on this project. Future ABCD publications (print or online) will be devoted to community-building by faith-based organizations and youth organizations.