Take time to consider the basic questions – who, why, what, when, and how.

• Who is going to be involved in this process? Identify the audience and the participants
• Why are you doing the inventory? Determine how you will use the information collected
• What do you hope to learn? Clarify the specific skills and assets you want to learn about
• When are you going to do it? Establish a time frame for the process
• How are you going to gather the information? Make a plan for gathering the information

Individual Assets and Skills Inventory generally consist of the following types of skills:

• Individual – skills learned at home, in school, or workplace that could be valuable for neighbors and developed further for future jobs - computers, typing, child care, home repair.
• Community – skills learned from community activities and experiences, such as leading scout troops, church activities, service clubs, political campaign.
• Enterprise – skills gained from entrepreneurial and business experiences.

Part of the Inventory process is the actual information gathering, which is found to be most effective when done in collaboration with the residents. Depending on the methods chosen, residents’ roles will differ.

• Individual interviews
• Questionnaires
• Collective meetings

After information gathering and analysis, make sure you have also made plans to share the findings with the community and provide an opportunity for residents to shape program development and planning.

See a sample Individual Inventory .

See a complete community asset map.