Asset Mapping in the Rio Grande Valley
The RGV Asset Mapping Initiative is a collaboration between UTRGV, the LRGV Economic Council, and local community members to provide a map of what resources exist and where they exist in the Rio Grande Valley.
Do you ever ask yourself, “Don’t we have that expertise here in the Rio Grande Valley?” And if we do, where is it. An asset map is map or understanding of a community’s resources on many levels. It begins with the approach of building on what we already have, rather than bringing in assistance for areas that we already have the knowledge for.
From the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, regarding the Mapping Community Assets Workbook:
“‘From a community development perspective, it helps to think of our communities in terms of their wealth—in people, things, services, and resources that they possess,’ says author Dr. Diane Dorfman. ‘To build from what you have requires asking different kinds of questions to learn different kinds of things about where you live.’
The process works best when capacities are mapped and synergized dynamically so that they multiply their impact. (Cogs in a wheel driving other cogs). An example of a community asset map to use to educate the community could look like this:
Figure above from McKnight JL and Kretzmann, JP, Mapping Community Capacity, 1990
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