Why is it important to work from people’s assets and common values when doing the work?
When we are not looking at people’s assets it’s very difficult to generate that kind of enthusiasm to get the work done. So for us we find that people are really excited when people acknowledge that they’re healing, that they’re growing into something new, because there’s a great deal of energy and life in poor and underserved communities that most people think that it’s a horrible horrible place. Yes there is tragedy, but the life that’s there is so vibrant that we have to really be clear about tapping into the assets of the people who are struggling. It’s not by choice that they’re struggling. It’s by circumstance, culture, and environment. What role does healing play in the civic process? When I hear people say that poor people are apathetic, uneducated people are apathetic; I think they’re missing an important aspect of the cycles of trauma people are experiencing. The fact is that people have been traumatized, and once people realize that they have this innate power and that colle
