HCHY Blueprint

15 Characteristics of Asset-Building Communities

A blueprint for the ongoing work of the local HCHY Initiative

1. All residents take personal responsibility for building assets in children and adolescents.
   
2. The community thinks and acts intergenerationally.
   
3. The community builds a consensus on values and boundaries, which it seeks to articulate and model.
   
4. All children and teenagers frequently engage in service to others.
   
5. Families are supported, educated, and equipped to elevate asset building to top priority.
   
6. All children and teenagers receive frequent expressions of support in both informal settings and in places where youth gather.
   
7. Neighborhoods are places of caring, support and safety.
   
8. Schools--both elementary and secondary--mobilize to promote caring, clear boundaries, and sustained relationships with adults.
   
9. Businesses establish family-friendly policies and embrace asset-building principles for young employees.
   
10. Virtually all 10 to 18 year olds are involved in one or more clubs, teams or other youth-serving organizations that see building assets as central to their mission.
    
11. The media (print, radio, television) repeatedly communicate the community's vision, support local mobilization efforts, and provide forums for sharing innovative actions taken by individuals and organizations.
    
12. All professionals and volunteers who work with youth receive training in asset building.
    
13. Youth have opportunities to serve, lead, and make decisions.
    
14. Religious institutions mobilize their resources to build assets both within their own programs and in the community.
    
15. The community-wide commitment to asset building is long-term and sustained.