John P. Kretzmann

Co-Director, The Asset-Based Community Development Institute
Research Associate, Institute for Policy Research
Northwestern University
Ph.D., Sociology, Northwestern University, 1983
j-kretzmann@northwestern.edu
Curriculum Vitae

John Kretzmann (Jody) is Co-Director of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute, a research project of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. ABCD Institute works with community building leaders across North America as well as five other continents to conduct research, produce materials and otherwise support community-based efforts to rediscover local capacities and to mobilize citizens’ resources to solve problems. The Institute continues to build on the stories and methods about successful community building reported in the popular book, Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets (1993, with John L. McKnight.)

A much-traveled speaker and trainer, Kretzmann brings more than thirty years of community experience and study to his current position. He was a founding faculty member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Urban Studies Program in 1969, and served as director of that institution for six years. He has been a community organizer in Chicago’s West Side, and served as a consultant to a wide range of neighborhood organizing and development groups. In addition to the ACM Program, he has taught at Northwestern University, Valparaiso University and the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.

Kretzmann has worked to develop community-oriented public policy at the national, state and local levels. In Chicago, he served as chair of the Neighborhood Planning Committee for Mayor Harold Washington, and was an active policy consultant through Washington’s four and a half years in office. He serves on a wide range of civic, community, and foundation boards.

Kretzmann’s educational background includes a B.A. from Princeton University (Magna Cum Laude); a M.A. in English Literature from the University of Virginia; and a Ph.D in Sociology and Urban Affairs from Northwestern University.

He is married to Ingrid Christiansen. They have two children, Marcus and Katie.

Selected Publications

Building the Bridge from Client to Citizen: A Community Toolbox for Welfare Reform (with Michael B. Green). Evanston, IL: Institute for Policy Research, 1998.

A Guide to Capacity Inventories: Mobilizing the Community Skills of Local Residents (with John L. McKnight and Geralyn Sheehan). Evanston, IL: Institute for Policy Research, 1997.

Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets (with John L. McKnight). Evanston, IL: Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, 1993.

"Community-based development and local schools: A promising partnership." Institute for Policy Research Working Paper (WP-92-14), 1992.

"Opening up a closed city," in Harold Washington and the Neighborhoods. Rutgers University Press, 1991.

Mapping Community Capacity (with John L. McKnight). Evanston, IL: Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, Northwestern University, 1990.

"Community organizing in the 80s" (with John L. McKnight). Social Policy, Winter 1984.