Trudy Shuravloff used to live in subsidized housing in the highest crime neighborhood in Bellingham. Now she owns a home and works to teach others financial skills so they too can be homeowners. As the executive director of nonprofit organization, The Whatcom Dream, she has been an active role in making sure the Roosevelt neighborhood experiences less crime.
“Our neighborhood used to have a real bad reputation with a lot of drugs and violence but we’ve seen a lot of progress,” she said.
That progress meant taking a strong look at what resources are in the neighborhood and building those parts up. While the process has taken years, according to Shuravloff, her community has become an example of how a practice known as Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) can work.
“Most neighborhood groups fall into focusing on what is wrong and it’s about getting them to focus on the resources they have,” said Jim Diers, a Seattle-based author and trainer of ABCD principles. “The concept looks at a community of people with underutilized resources and focuses on what everyone can bring to community.”
Diers will host ABCD training from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 26, at the Seattle First Christian Reform Church, 14555 25th Ave. NE in Shoreline. He has seen ABCD principles work in Seattle during his 14-year tenure as the director of the city’s Department of Neighborhoods and frequently travels to other countries to see how community development principles are applied worldwide.
Locally, Diers said he has seen residents apply ABCD training to turn a rundown church into a cultural center and to start a farmers market when a grocery store closed.
“I find the same general desires everywhere,” Diers said. “People really are interested in how to build a stronger sense of community — we’re biologically built that way.”
The city of Shoreline has some great neighborhoods, according to Diers, who was part of a visioning process for the Ridgecrest neighborhood that included University of Washington students in early 2007.
“I think there’s a lot to work with in Shoreline,” he said. “I know there are people there that care deeply about their community and are looking for ways to be more active.”
In the case of Bellingham’s Roosevelt neighborhood, many residents wanted to get to know their neighbors but felt isolated, said Baron Miller, pastor of the Roosevelt Community Church. He added that the Whatcom Dream program, the creation and strengthening of neighborhood associations and the addition of a neighborhood church have helped the neighborhood to no longer be the highest crime area in the city.
“When you have a hood, you have to re-neighbor it,” Miller said. “Now the neighborhood is changing right before my eyes.”
The process takes time, Miller and Shuravloff both said. But in recent years, residents have moved from a campaign meant to encourage people to meet their neighbors to regularly collaborate skills and resources through the church’s bulletin board. Residents recently created a community garden and someone taught local children how to fix bikes as a service project.
“The key is to start small,” Diers said. “If people are to get engaged, they need to start small.”
Get Involved with Asset-Based Community Development
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 26 at Seattle First Christian Reform Church, 14555 25th Ave. NE in Shoreline.
Reserve a spot by contacting neighborhood coordinator Nora Smith at nsmith@ci.shoreline.wa.us or call 206-546-8564. Cost of the training and lunch is $15.
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