John Mcknight on community development
From Al Etmanski and John McKnight at Community: Programs and Policies · · The Tamarack Institute
“There is in every neighborhood a huge invisible set of possibilities that aren't identified or discovered, and the capacities, resources, assets, and possibilities of neighborhoods tend to be invisible, whereas what institutions do is always visible.”
On , John Mcknight, President of Heavy Duty at DORMAN PRODUCTS INC, spoke about community development during Al Etmanski and John McKnight at Community: Programs and Policies on The Tamarack Institute.
About John Mcknight
John McKnight has been discussing asset-based community development (ABCD), an approach he helped develop that focuses on identifying and investing in the strengths and capacities of local neighborhoods rather than focusing on their problems and deficits. In a 2014 appearance, he described neighborhoods as having "a huge invisible set of possibilities" that are often overlooked by institutions. He argued that the "basic experiential base for democracy" is knowing what a neighbor means, and that democracy depends on citizens working together locally to keep government moral, stating that "if locally people don't have the experience of working together to make their society more livable... the democracy's on the way out." McKnight has also reflected on the role of government, expressing respect for its power to enact policies like affirmative action, which he said changed employment for African-Americans "more in three years than it happened in all of history." He described governments as "able" rather than moral, and said the key question is how citizens can keep them moral. He has characterized the future of community and democracy as a resistance to "professionalism, technology, and big systems," advocating instead for local, associational action. He noted that great movements are not organized from the top but are ignited when local action "sweep[s] the consciousness and the policy of your country."