Emerging research emphasizes the importance of identifying assets in a community and partnering with them to enhance community change efforts. Community assets can be anything from social service organizations to recreation facilities, libraries to health centers. Each community possesses different assets and can use assets differently.
With tightening budgets, creating cross-sector partnerships can be a valuable way to share responsibility and ownership. The Community Commons offers several location based GIS mapping layers of community assets. Communities can use maps of community assets to help inform community change efforts and identify potential partnerships.
To make this process easier, Community Commons allows you to filter map layers by geography level. If you are interested in location based assets, browse data by topic in the “Add Data” window and filter by location on the bottom left.
The maps below give some examples of these layers, but visit the Commons maproom to explore more asset layers. You can also check-out our Health Indicator Report to get more information about the assets in your community.
Community assets continue to be valuable for community improvement efforts, and are a great starting point as you explore potential partnerships and opportunities in your community.