Your Key Asset
Narrow your assets list
With your partners and stakeholders, narrow down the list of community assets you identified in your assessment. Include as many community members as possible.
Remember, your community’s unique history and historic resources are tremendous assets.
Pick just one
Once you have identified your top 4-6 assets, you will need to identify the most important, or key asset. This will be the “engine” that drives your community development strategy.
To find that one key asset, consider 3 questions:
- What are we passionate about?
- What does our community excel at and what makes us unique?
- What can drive our economic engine?
These questions are adapted from the book Good to Great. For more explanation, see the hedgehog section on http://JimCollins.com.
Take some time to identify this one important asset. Getting it right is crucial.
During this process, you will find invaluable guidance in the Creative Community Builder's Handbook: How to Transform Communities Using Local Assets, Arts, and Culture Handbook, by Tom Borrup.