Compare methods

	Asset-Based Community Development	Strengths Assessment
Field	Social Work	Social Work
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1993	2012
Originator	John P. Kretzmann & John L. McKnight	Dennis Saleebey (strengths perspective); Charles Rapp & Richard Goscha (strengths model assessment)
Type	Strengths-based approach to community practice and development	Structured, domain-based assessment of client and environmental strengths
Seminal source	Kretzmann, J. P., & McKnight, J. L. (1993). Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets. ACTA Publications / Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University. ISBN: 9780879461089	Saleebey, D. (Ed.). (2013). The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice (6th ed.). Pearson. ISBN: 9780205011544
Aliases	ABCD, Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), Asset Mapping, Capacity-Focused Community Development	Strengths-Based Assessment, Strengths Perspective Assessment, Strengths Model Assessment, Asset-Based Assessment
Related	4	3
Summary	Asset-based community development (ABCD) is an approach to community practice that begins by identifying and mobilizing the strengths a community already possesses — the skills of its residents, the energy of its associations, and the resources of its institutions — rather than starting from a catalogue of its problems and deficits. Articulated by John Kretzmann and John McKnight in their 1993 book Building Communities from the Inside Out, ABCD reframes community members from clients and recipients of services into citizens and producers of their own development, and is a cornerstone of strengths-based community social work.	Strengths assessment is a structured way of assessing a client that deliberately foregrounds capabilities, resources, and aspirations rather than deficits and problems. Grounded in the strengths perspective articulated by Dennis Saleebey and operationalized in Charles Rapp and Richard Goscha's strengths model, it surveys the client's life domains — such as daily living, health, finances, relationships, leisure, and spirituality — to record what is already working, what the person wants, and the personal and environmental resources available to get there. Those strengths then become the raw material for goal-setting and intervention.