Asset Mapping

40 interviews, 7 themes, countless individual gifts, associations, and institutions.

Yesterday we began the process of mapping, which was a big step we have been putting off, partly because we didn’t know how and partly because we didn’t feel we had enough information. After completing more than 40 interviews, taking our own walks and drives around the neighborhood, and hours of online research, we have put together a first edition map of the assets of North Denver.

We began by printing rereading all our interview transcripts up and finding themes that were mentioned by multiple people. Using this method, we discovered seven key themes that resonated with people in the community. These themes were:

- gentrification

- youth and education,

- language,

- neighborhood identity/history,

- leisure, 

- entrepreneurial background, and

- participation in city government.

Once we learned what was on our community’s collective mind, we began mapping the assets. Leaders in the ABCD sector have devised ways to break up the assets in a community into three main categories: (1) individuals gifts, (2) associations, and (3) institutions. We added a fourth category that we called economy and land that captures the flow of goods within the neighborhood and the space available. Some examples of the assets we found are:

• Individual gifts: tech-savviness, pastoral counseling, appreciation of arts and food, and culinary gifts.
• Associations: Coffee groups, North High School alumni, neighborhood associations, #WeAreNorthDenver, and business associations.
• Institutions: RTD, local restaurants, churches, Woodbury Library

With this inventory, we will begin by getting small groups together with common interests to talk about what they would like to accomplish together in the neighborhood and how  to use the strengths of the community toward these shared ends.  

A Lemonade Stand

Last week, we tried something new in our ABCD journey: opening a lemonade stand! What else says summertime in the neighborhood like getting an ice cold cup of lemonade while strolling the sidewalk? While most lemonade stands support the financial goals of a kid on the block, we made our lemonade free of charge so that we might meet as many people as we could. Our table on the corner of 32^nd and Wyandot offered a rare perspective on each walk of life in the neighborhood: four teenagers just finishing the school year at North High, a few mothers with strollers, a realtor meeting the owners of a new juice bar down the street, and everyone in between. As we poured each customer a cup, they told us a little about their day and their connection to the place. An older man was walking his dog around the streets where he grew up. He lives in LA now, and was only visiting, but he stopped by and told us some stories of being a young man in the North Side in the 1970s. Some who visited our table ran into passing friends, or struck up conversations with strangers. Life offers few spaces for these kinds of interactions: a chance to take out our headphones, pause our busy walk down the pavement, and be with the people with whom we share that pavement. We enjoyed the chance to share that space, and look forward to the next step in the journey!

Questions for community:

-          When was the last time young people on your block put up a lemonade stand?

-          Have you said hi to a neighbor today?

-          Have you heard a good story today?