Asset Mapping Workshops on Tuesday June 30th, 2009

On Tuesday, June 30th 2009, Public Agenda in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of the Gulf Coast held two Asset Mapping workshops to begin to identify and collect the resources and assets available to Biloxi’s youth. 40 Biloxi residents, consisting of 20 young people (ages 13-18) and 20 adults representing various community organizations located in the city of Biloxi and the Gulf Coast, gathered to share their views and opinions. The workshops were held at the new Swetman Office buildings in Biloxi, which was built after Hurricane Katrina to serve as a community meeting place and command center, in the event of another natural disaster.

The purpose of the Asset Mapping workshops was to enable residents of Biloxi to identify, categorize, and map the valuable youth-focused resources that are available in their community in order to expand and build on them in the future. Asset Mapping is a positive approach to community building, rather than the typical focus on needs and desires that can lead to unachievable or misleading results.

Assets were framed in three categories: Individuals, Organizations and Institutions. First, participants were asked to name their own individual talents and skill-sets that they believe are assets to the community, and then continue with organizations and institutions that provide or support youth development programs or activities. Examples of assets that were identified range from Pastor Anthony Thompson, a community builder that employs local youth in all of his projects, the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center with its Arts & Crafts and Discovery programs, or the Project Green Tortoise, which provides hands-on science workshops to get youth engaged in the sciences. Participants wrote down their suggestions on note cards and located them on a large map of the community with sticky dots where possible.

“I found out about a lot of new places, it was fun and educating” said one youth participant. “It was great to hear about what everyone is doing in our community”, shared a resident, while another participant enjoyed “being exposed to so many wonderful people who care about our youth.” Words like; useful, informative, engaging, interesting, and fun were used by participants to describe the two hour workshop experience. View more images of the event on flickr >>

The workshops kicked off a two week-long online phase during which participants can add new assets, or update and provide feedback on assets that are already listed (www.biloxiyouthassets.org ). A follow-up workshop is planned for July 24, where individuals and organizations will begin to discuss partnerships and collaborations based on Biloxi’s current assets to strengthen programs and activities for the community’s youth.