THE LEARNING TREE
provides professional development consulting services to local, regional, and national institutions, teaching them the practices of asset-based community development and helping to shift the mindsets of people with power. Asset-based community development emphasizes and leverages a community's existing strengths, resources, and capacities for sustainable development and overall well-being of its residents.
MISSION STATEMENT – Why we exist
“To invite people”
Our work is first and foremost an invitation. An invitation to pay attention and get to know one’s neighbors. An invitation to be astonished by their gifts. An invitation to tell more people. An invitation to gather and celebrate.
“To multiply goodness in the world”
Good work cannot be accomplished alone. We build trust throughout the neighborhood with our neighbors. We develop trust beyond the neighborhood with larger institutions and systems of power. We connect our neighbors with larger institutions and systems of power because goodness in the world multiplies when we first can find goodness in each other.
“By revealing gifts and talents of neighbors”
In a neighborhood that is undervalued and has historically been characterized as “low-income, low-wealth,” we work to discover and cultivate residents’ gifts, which have long been invisible. We believe each of our neighbors has gifts, talents, and passions that, once made visible, have unlimited potential to catalyze the power within themselves.
.JPG)
“Cultivating opportunities”
We choose to invest in our neighborhood residents through a new currency - our social capital. Strengthening relationships and connecting neighbors with leaders of influence allow us to highlight individuals’ gifts and talents in ways that build community, economy, and mutual delight.
“Creating a culture of abundance”
When neighborhoods are perceived as deficient and broken, residents begin to believe they are deficient and broken. With asset-based community development, we look what assets exists in a neighborhood, as opposed to what is scarce. We perceive and treat our neighbors not as deficient and broken, but as sacred. We highlight the abundance found in their gifts.
“For social transformation.”
When we make it a common practice to see and invest in people’s gifts, we become witness to the transformation in how they see themselves. When people transform, systems transform. When systems transform, society transforms.
De'Amon Harges
FOUNDER/Social Banker
Amand Wolf
Executive Spirit/CFO
Wildstyle Paschal
Roving Illustrator
Januarie York
CULTIVATOR OF JOY/THE HEALER
Jada Ford
ROVING LISTENER
CONSULTING SERVICES
Turning Public Transport into Art
We are looking for artists to submit photography, poetry, and other forms of art that hoghlight public transportation and other forms of active living Learn more
Poetic Justice is a peace-building and community safety program that integrates poetry and creative writing to foster social connectedness and cultivate visions of safe, nurturing communities through asset-based community development projects. Learn more
Januarie York Januarie York’s preferred medium is the spoken word poetry she has been performing for more than 15 years. But when she was invited to participate in an Indiana civic event this past fall, she decided to bring along a visual aid. It was a poster board with the outline of a man’s body on it. Color-coded arrows pointed in different directions. A brown arrow indicated an abdominal stab wound, with the price of $12,000 listed alongside. An orange arrow pointed to the kidneys: dialysis, $89,000 per year. A yellow arrow pointed to a gun shot wound to the chest: $30,000 if not fatal. Read the rest of the article here:
The Bike Shop on CBS Sunday Morning
The Bike Shop was on CBS Sunday Morning (12-21-2020).
We are so humbled to have met Kahane & John and were able to be a story in their film The Antidote. The entire film is beautiful. It is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
Clifton Underpass Mural
By Wildstyle Paschall (01-02-2020)
The details of the The Clifton Street mural are really starting to come together nicely.I’m amazed at how Alkemi literally made Christ Missionary church fit into his design.The storytelling is incredible.One person stopped their car and started crying and when people came to see about her, she talked about growing up here with her family and how much this mural meant to her.
.jpg)
Beatrice Beverly
Martindale Brightwood
.jpg)
Cynthia Morraz
Representing the Latinx Community
.jpg)
Annie Smith
Far East Side
.jpg)
Sayra Campos
Representing the Latinx Community
.jpg)
Tedd Hardy
Haughville
.jpg)
Valerie Davis
Near East Side
Mari Luna
Representing Youth
Keith Paschall
Riverside
About the NEVI
The Neighborhood Economic Vitality Index (NEVI) redefines how communities are assessed by highlighting strengths like:
- local skills- social trust- informal economies
Rather than deficits like poverty or crime, it shifts focus from systemic failures to cultural and cooperative assets, challenging need-based narratives.
By emphasizing ownership, self-sufficiency, and community-driven potential, NEVI sees residents as resourceful contributors and steers investment toward opportunity over dependency. This approach promotes equity using a language of vitality that empowers neighborhoods to thrive through their inherent strengths.
Rather than deficits like poverty or crime, it shifts focus from systemic failures to cultural and cooperative assets, challenging need-based narratives.
By emphasizing ownership, self-sufficiency, and community-driven potential, NEVI sees residents as resourceful contributors and steers investment toward opportunity over dependency. This approach promotes equity using a language of vitality that empowers neighborhoods to thrive through their inherent strengths.
Take the survey below!
