Harnessing Community Strengths: Asset-Based Needs Statements
“What specific population(s) of learners are central to this project? Describe their assets and what they bring to the project.” This question appears on the Arizona Commission on the Arts application for the Lifelong Arts Engagement Grant, and it’s my favorite grant application question.
Too often, we as grant writers are focused on the deficits of the people central to the projects for which we are seeking funding. After all, if there weren’t deficits or problems to be solved, why would our program or even our organization be needed?
However, too great a focus on the deficits risks dehumanizing the population we serve and perpetuating a savior narrative. Obviously, there are significant gaps in access to resources and services for many people across the United States and the world. The people our organizations serve have their own strength, ideas, and agency to bridge those gaps. Grant writers can use applications to reframe the narrative and empower communities, organizations, and funders to work together to find solutions.
When I came across the question above three years ago, I was writing an application for a Creative Arts program serving youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). I had written for this program many times and had a lot of boilerplate to draw from including the need for and benefits of arts programs for people with IDD. What I didn’t have — and had not previously thought about — was an answer to this question.
When I started to think about the many people I know with IDD, ideas came easily: creativity, honesty, enthusiasm, and so much more. But I also questioned why I hadn’t thought about this before and why these and other assets were not regularly part of the grant applications I was writing.
While the Arizona Commission on the Arts has the only application I have ever seen that explicitly includes this question, there are ways to incorporate asset-based thinking into all applications. One strategy is focusing on the goal rather than the problem. For this program, rather than disabilities being framed as a problem, communication and self-expression are framed as the goals. For example, “Creative Arts programs empower people with IDD to identify and express their needs by offering a variety of arts media and methods.” Another strategy is emphasizing the resources and knowledge both the community and the organization bring. “After seeing the creativity and passion our residents brought to painting self-portraits, Our Organization began to offer opportunities for them to explore other arts media.”
One of the things I have started doing when working with a new client as a consultant is crafting an answer to “What population(s) are central to this project? Describe their assets and what they bring to the project.” Having that language helps me to frame answers throughout the application — and to focus on how the organization I am writing for works with their communities and seeks to partner with funders to bring about positive change through this work.
