A Portrait of a Powerful Community: ABCD and Photovoice

An Online Course for Schools & Colleges with Nurture Development and Our Creative Connection
In this course, we combine two powerful tools to reveal the often-overlooked resources within every community: Photovoice and Asset-Based Community Development.

This training equips your Educational Institution with practical strategies to host impactful community conversations. Creatively engaging the head, hands, and heart of those involved and fostering a shared vision for the well-being of your school and the surrounding neighbourhood.


“The task is not to see what has never been

 seen before, but to think what has never
 been thought before about what you see
 every day.”
 Erwin Schrödinger (1887 - 1961)

What is ABCD?

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is a way of  working with communities that focuses on their strengths, skills, and resources. Starting with what’s strong, not what’s wrong, it helps people discover what they already have - like talents, local groups, and relationships and how to connect those  ‘assets’ to create positive change.

What is Photovoice?

Photovoice is a way of using images to help people think about themselves and the world around them. It offers a gentle, creative and accessible way to explore topics that can sometimes be tricky to put into words. It allows is to see the world through someone else's eyes enabling conversations and different perspectives. 

Who is this training for?

This is an interactive experience for anyone who is interested in exploring a creative and visual way of connecting with the communities that they serve, to create opportunities for
people to have their say and encourage participation and connection.

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Course Structure & Learning Outcomes

Phase 1:
How to organise your community discovery team and how to be a guide on a photo walk.
Phase 2:
How to conduct Community Walks to uncover hidden treasures and carry out asset-mapping.

Phase 3:
How to host an exhibition, a community well-being conversation and engage in community visioning for a brighter future.

Course Delivery

1. One hour orientation session online
Date: Monday 19th May 2pm - 2.45pm

2. Three 1.5 hour online facilitated course sessions with master
 practitioners in Photovoice and Asset-Based Community
 Development, each session supported by online resources.
Dates:
Session 1: Monday 9th June 2pm - 3:30pm
Session 2: Monday 30th June 2pm - 3:30pm
Session 3: Monday 22nd September 2pm - 3:30pm

3. Online videos, resources and tools on e-learning platform.

4. Access to three webinars throughout the year that showcase
 promising examples of educational institutions facilitating portraits  of powerful communities.

Zoom Sessions: Dates and Links

Please add these dates to your calendar

The Team

Cormac Russell

Cormac is a social explorer, an author and a much sought after speaker. He is the Founding Director of Nurture Development and a member of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute, at DePaul University,Chicago.

Over the last 25 years, Cormac’s work has demonstrated an

enduring impact in 35 countries around the world. He has  trained communities, agencies, NGOs and governments in ABCD and other community-based approaches in Africa, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe and North America.

His most recent books are The Connected Community

Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of  Neighborhoods (Coauthor John McKnight); Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2022, and

Rekindling Democracy – A Professional’s Guide to Working in Citizen Space; Cascade Books, 2020.

Chris Chinnock

I’m a socially engaged Photographer and Filmmaker with a background in Community Development. I help people visualise the important stuff.

Building on 20 years in Community Development working in both the public and VCSE sectors alongside a 10 year career as a freelance photographer.

I founded ‘Our Creative Connection’ a Social Enterprise that brings together creativity, community, and social change.

Using photography, video, and participatory methods like Photovoice where people can tell their own stories, explore what matters and show the world from their point of view.

My work is about using creativity as a tool for connection and change in a way that is accessible, purposeful and rooted in everyday life.