Expert Tips for Successful Asset Building this National Night Out
By: Deborah Fisher, Search Institute Trainer
My training philosophy has several mantras, and two of my favorites are joined at the hip. One is “don’t reinvent the wheel” and two is “the cheaper, the better.” There’s plenty of great asset-building stuff already going on. If you can replicate or build on someone else’s success (with their permission of course), you’re not only repeating proven success, you’re also saving time and money. One of my favorite tactics for celebrating existing wheels is to join an existing effort and bring your own asset-building strategies to share. There’s a great opportunity coming up for you to join one of these existing efforts that already has lots of asset building going for it. Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2011 is National Night Out (NNO). From front porch and block parties, parades, and flashlight walks to youth programs, community prevention fairs and potlucks, you’ll recognize all sorts of Asset activities.
I think NNO builds lots of Assets, especially demonstrating that the community does value youth (#7) as well as spotlighting caring neighborhoods (#4), highlighting the presence of positive adults (#3 and #14), demonstrating boundaries and expectations, and providing opportunities for creative involvement (Asset #17).
With over 15,000 community events going on, chances are there’s one in your community that you could partner up with—not only to recognize the great asset-building that NNO is already doing, but to enhance NNO with what you already know about Assets. Here are just a few Asset opportunities I see:
• Support youth to take initiative and become leaders –They can find out if you have a NNO coming up in your community and how to get involved (Asset #8).
• Encourage their NNO creative ideas – Do youth want to create brochures or posters? Develop skits? Interact with younger children and/or seniors around NNO’s themes of crime and drug prevention awareness? (Asset #17).
• Share opportunities – Publicize any volunteer or service opportunities available for youth with your initiative (Asset #9).
• Reflect and learn – Ask youth to look for opportunities at NNO to enhance feelings of safety (Asset #10), cultural competence (Asset #34), or resistance skills (Asset #35). Guide them through a simple debrief afterward to talk about what they learned.
Here’s one last “bonus mantra” that I got from my fellow trainer, Chris Beyer – Look for ways to “power pack” your existing asset-building strategies by adding a few new ones. My suggestion for power-packing this event? Be prepared to have sparks conversations with new youth you meet at your NNO! Here’s where you can find out more about how to do that: www.search-institute.org/sparks.
Find out more about National Night Out at www.nationaltownwatch.org. Click on the NNO map to find out where there events will be in your community.
