Assignment Task:
Discussion & Attendance Question: Creating an Individual Asset Map
This week, I would like you to create an individual asset map, using the 4H method from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
As we are doing ongoing work on our community resource mapping, I also want you to think about the importance of personal and interpersonal assets, and the ways that they contribute to the larger picture of community resources. Please complete the 4H Gifts Exercise (more explanation in the link above copied) that is detailed below for your discussion post this week, identifying your own personal assets within the following categories:
"Gifts of the Head: Knowledge that you have in a particular area like child development, health care, or history of the neighborhood. Includes abilities associated with learning, knowledge, organizational capacity, or numbers, and skills related to thinking and planning. Examples: art, movies, history, birds.
Gifts of the Hands: Any gift, talent, or ability having to do with the hands or body.
Physical skills you would be willing to offer or teach. Examples: carpentry, photography, painting, bicycle repair, athletic skills.
Gifts of the Heart: What are your passions? What stirs you to action? What would you walk across hot coals for? Examples: the environment, civic life, children.
Gifts of Human Connection: How are you good at connecting with people or connecting people to each other? What are the things you do to stay connected to our community? Examples: starting conversations, keeping in touch with/ checking on people, remembering peoples' names or details, throwing parties, joining an interest group, working behind the scenes to support events or gatherings."
In addition to writing about your assets in the 4H categories, please also explore the following reflection questions:
1. What was it like to both record and then share publicly your personal assets of head, hands, heart, and human connection?
2. What role do you feel your culture and upbringing has played in your current inventory of assets? (Is there a cultural wealth or knowledge central to your assets? Is there a history of generational access to resources present in your current asset list? Does intergenerational struggle or trauma create some holes in your asset lists?) Need Assignment Help?
3. As you think about building your personal and community resilience in more complex times (climate crisis, political chaos, loss of human rights, supply chain uncertainty, etc.) what gaps do you notice in your own assets that you might want to build community around to fill? And what assets of your own do you think would be valuable to offer into community?