Sharing What Works

Where are asset-builders showing up in our community? Everywhere.

Read what groups and individuals are doing to support youth in their communities.

Assets in the Community

Assets in Organizations

Assets in Schools

Assets and Diversity

Assets and Individuals

Assets in Businesses

We want to hear from you! Send us your asset-building story.

Assets and Diversity

• Mountain Mentors, an organization supporting youth in Summit County, focuses on assets in its programming and includes messages in its newsletter. Its diversity coordinator, Eric Aaholm, the diversity coordinator, actively engages the county's minority communities to become involved in the asset initiative.
  Contact: Tara Eaton, 970-668-2077 Tara Eaton, 970-668-2077

• A workshop connecting the asset framework to the Kwanzaa principles, facilitated by board member Ken Grimes and Shirley Scott of Denver Public Schools, was offered to families and organizational partners of Full Circle Intergenerational Project in northeast Denver.
  Contact: Anita West-Ware, 303-333-7595,
  fcip19912@aol.com

• Three years ago, a group of Spanish-speaking mothers from Cheltenham Elementary in Denver embraced the asset message and developed a culturally rich presentation that includes traditional proverbs (dichos), dance, narration, and song. The group, called Flores Indigenas, has taken its presentation across the state of Colorado and has proven effective in engaging other Spanish-language parents in the asset framework. Flores Indigenas has now grown to 25 participants, including the daughters of some of the original members. Presentations before audiences including the Migrant Even Start Conference, Denver Public School Board, Safe and Drug Free Schools, and recently the First Annual Latino Conference in Wyoming, have helped opened doors for the asset message in the education establishment and at the grassroots level. The group has received numerous requests for presentations in 2002, including a Parent Involvement Conference sponsored by the Rocky Ford Migrant Program, and a regional parent conference in the San Luis Valley. Much of what fuels their volunteer effort has been seeing their own children excel in school. At a recent Citizenship Assembly in Adams County, nearly all the awards went to children of Flores Indigenas parents.
  Contact: Patsy Roybal, 720-890-0123,
  patsyjr@aol.com

• The Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition, an asset-rich group of volunteer board members who are passionate about improving the quality of education for Latino youth, has piloted a number of successful programs that are now taking hold in schools and communities across Colorado. Working with youth to become asset ambassadors through its Statewide Opportunities of Youth (SOY) program, CSPC board members trained 15 youth from seven areas of the state in 2000-2001 to move the asset message forward. The young people have proven to be strong advocates for the asset message. Now, SOY groups have started in the Adams 50 and Lake County school districts. The overwhelming success of the Los Padres program, which trains Spanish-speaking fathers in the "nuts and bolts of effective parent engagement," has now led to the piloting of a Las Madres program in Westminster. In addition, CSPC sponsors Flores Indigenas, a group of Latina women who present a culturally adapted presentation on the asset framework. Audiences across the state are asking for this presentation. Closing the learning gap for Latino youth is at the forefront of all CSPC does. The board members are parents themselves and treat other parents as equals. Superintendents, BOC's Directors, Migrant Council Directors, and other policy leaders across Colorado have heard about the coalition's work and its effectiveness in working with school communities. Last June, CSPC partnered with the Colorado Department of Education to open the Center for Effective Parent Involvement in Public Education in northwest Denver. The center has begun working with the Lake County School District in Leadville to address the high dropout rate of Latino youth.
  Contact: Patsy Roybal, 720-890-0123,
  patsyjr@aol.com