General Asset Building
1. Coordinate your asset-building efforts with other congregations. Offer each other ideas and support.
2. Sponsor billboards or other public-service announcements related to asset building. Highlight the positive ways all kinds of people can interact with youth and what young people contribute to the community.
3. Join with (or start) a community-wide partnership for asset building.
4. Identify members of your congregation who are already involved in the community in leadership roles. Encourage them to be champions of asset building through their existing responsibilities.
Support
5. Get congregation members involved in (or cosponsor) community mentoring programs for children and youth.
6. Encourage members to be active asset builders in their own neighborhoods and to work at creating caring neighborhoods for all children and youth.
Empowerment
7. Offer leadership development and service-learning opportunities to young people in the community.
8. Challenge messages in the media that stereotype youth or portray them as problems, and affirm stories that reflect an asset-building perspective on youth. Send letters to the editor, meet with editorial boards, and take appropriate action.
Boundaries and Expectations
9. Equip congregation members to clarify boundaries for youth in their neighborhoods.
10. Work with community youth to develop a statement of expectations for all youth in the community. Then sponsor public dialogues about these expectations.
Constructive Use of Time
11. Sponsor sports and recreation activities, or music, drama, or other arts programs for community children and youth, or invite them to participate in existing congregational programs.
12. Sponsor or cosponsor after-school activities for community youth.
Commitment to Learning
13. Sponsor or cosponsor afternoon tutoring or study places for community children and youth.
14. Set up a homework hot line. Ask (and train) older youth and adults to volunteer to answer calls about various subjects.
Positive Values
15. Join with other organizations to identify and promote shared community values. Seek to find common ground instead of promoting a particular religious agenda or perspective.
16. Honor young people in the community who model positive values. Consider, for example, sponsoring a scholarship or award for youth who exhibit a strong commitment to serving others.
Social Competencies
17. Get involved in community efforts to encourage nonviolence and peaceful conflict resolution. Support community efforts to build young people’s social skills.
18. Have youth develop drama, music, or other presentations for teaching social skills to children and youth in the community.
Positive Identity
19. Sponsor or cosponsor activities that help young people affirm and connect with their own cultural heritage.
20. Work with community youth to paint a mural that depicts their sense of identity and the kind of community and world they hope for.
