Congratulations to ABCD Institute Founders John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann and all the ABCD Stewards. Jody accepted via a pre-recorded video clip and thanked International Association for Community Development (IACD) for their ongoing work and John attended live and accepted on behalf of all the ABCD Institute Stewards and practitioners in the ABCD movement, which says so much about both of their characters and their belief in the power of community!
John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann founded the ABCD Institute at Northwestern University in the early 1990s after publishing their best selling community development book, Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Towards Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. In 2016 the Institute relocated to DePaul University.
The International Association for Community Development (IACD) Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to individuals who have provided an outstanding contribution to international community development throughout a significant portion of their career.
At a recent IACD Board meeting, John and Jody were both nominated by Oceania Director Dee Brooks and there was unanimous agreement to formally recognize their contribution to the field of community development with a Lifetime Achievement Award!
John is formerly the director of community studies at Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research.
Jody is a former faculty member at the School of Education and Social Policy and IPR Faculty Associate at Northwestern.
Building on years of community organizing practice and research on urban neighborhoods, they have published extensively on their work and produced widely used resources supporting the ABCD approach. The Institute continues to share and grow their teachings around the world.
At their Annual General Meeting, IACD President Anna Clarke recognized their many years working in the field of community development, in particular Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) and recognized their contributions as academics, authors and influential leaders and pioneers in this work.
Read Story in Evanston Round Table Newspaper