Real change starts with what’s already here.
Change doesn’t always start with a grant or a program. Sometimes, it begins with a shared meal, a story passed down, or someone saying, “what if we tried it this way?” Too often, efforts to ‘fix’ communities come from outside—well-meaning, but disconnected. The most lasting change comes from within. It begins when we recognize the brilliance, resilience, and untapped strength that already lives here. The power of the local.
That’s the heartbeat of Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD): starting with what’s strong, not what’s wrong. It’s a way of seeing that invites us to notice what’s already working—who’s already showing up—and build from there. Instead of focusing on needs and deficits, ABCD invites a shift in mindset: from scarcity to abundance, from waiting to initiating, from being done to, to doing together.
It’s not just about strategy. It’s about belief. Belief that creativity can outgrow cynicism, that small moments matter, that community isn’t a service—it’s a relationship. Tools like Appreciative Inquiry help spark this shift by asking better questions: What’s already good here? What brings us alive? What do we want to grow?
Leadership, too, is being redefined. It’s no longer reserved for those with titles or corner offices. Leadership might look like a 16-year-old organizing a climate walkout, or an Elder hosting moccasin-making circles in their kitchen. It might be the artist painting forgotten histories into alleyways, or the neighbour who keeps showing up with soup.
These are the leaders at the edge—the ones who don’t wait to be asked, who challenge the usual ways, who imagine something more connected. They move between worlds, translate between generations, and lead with humility instead of hierarchy. Their power comes not from commanding, but from listening. From noticing who hasn’t spoken yet. From creating space.
If we want a different kind of future, we need a different kind of leadership—rooted in creativity, collaboration, and care. Imagination helps us see what isn’t yet visible. Collaboration makes it possible to carry the vision together. Empathy reminds us that no one is disposable.
Change isn’t coming. It’s already happening—in small rooms, on back porches, in song circles and supper clubs. And it starts with us, walking the path as we make it.