HLTH 6493 Module 2 Community Asset Map Example

More Than Its Deficits: Mapping the Health Assets of Robeson County, North Carolina

Student Name

American College of Education

HLTH6493: Community Health Analysis

Module 2 Assignment

Instructor Name

November 9, 2026

Introduction

Module 1 profiled Robeson County, North Carolina, through public data that described high poverty, low insurance coverage, food insecurity, transportation barriers and heavy burdens of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, smoking and tooth loss. A profile built only from such numbers describes a community by what it lacks. That view is incomplete and, if it guides planning alone, can lead outsiders to design programs for residents rather than with them. This paper maps the county's health assets: the people, associations, institutions, places and traditions that already support health or could do so. It uses an asset-based approach to organize the map and then matches assets to the needs identified in Module 1.

Why an Asset Approach

Kretzmann and McKnight (1993) argued that communities are rebuilt from the inside out, by identifying and connecting the capacities of residents, neighborhood clubs and local institutions instead of opening with a catalog of deficiencies. In public health, Morgan and Ziglio (2007) proposed an assets model to complement the dominant deficit model, defining health assets as factors or resources that enhance the ability of individuals, communities and populations to maintain health and well-being. A needs profile tells planners where the problems are; an asset map tells them who is already working on them and what they could do with support. The two views are meant to be used together.

How the Map Was Built

The map draws on public directories and websites of county organizations, the county's listing of churches and civic groups, school and college directories and conversations described as planned for a full assessment: interviews with a small number of community leaders, including a tribal program staff member, a pastor, a school nurse and a county extension agent. Assets are organized into the categories used in asset-based community development: individuals, associations, institutions, physical assets, economic assets and cultural assets. The map describes types of assets and named institutions that are publicly listed, not the internal programs of any organization, which would need to be confirmed directly with each one.

Individuals

Every community's first assets are its people. In Robeson County these include lay health advisers and church health ministers who already check blood pressure after services, retired teachers and nurses, farmers and gardeners with knowledge of growing food, veterans and the many residents who serve as informal caregivers for older relatives. Students at UNC Pembroke and Robeson Community College in health, nursing and social work programs are another pool of skill and energy. An asset inventory in a full assessment would ask residents directly what skills they have and are willing to share. Simple capacity surveys, handed out at church services, ball games and tribal events, can surface people such as a retired dietitian or a bilingual volunteer who would never appear in an organizational directory but could lead a cooking class or interpret at a clinic.

Associations

Associations are groups of residents who come together voluntarily. Churches are the most numerous and trusted associations in the county, and many have kitchens, fellowship halls, vans and established networks for checking on members. Civic clubs, volunteer fire departments, veterans' organizations, youth sports leagues, community watch groups and farmers' cooperatives also reach residents regularly. Tribal community organizations and gatherings connect Lumbee families across the county. Associations matter for health because they reach people who rarely visit clinics and because residents trust them.

Institutions

The county has institutions that could anchor a health improvement effort. The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina operates programs for tribal members and is a central institution for a large share of residents. The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, founded to educate American Indian students, brings research capacity, health professions programs and students. Robeson Community College trains nurses, emergency medical workers and other health workers. The Robeson County Health Department provides clinical and public health services, and UNC Health Southeastern operates the county's regional hospital. Robeson Health Care Corporation provides community health center services. The Public Schools of Robeson County reach nearly every child, and the county's Cooperative Extension center offers nutrition education and agricultural expertise.

Physical, Economic and Cultural Assets

Physical assets include the Lumber River and its state park, walking trails, school grounds that could be opened for community use after hours, church kitchens and farmland. Economic assets include local agriculture, small businesses, the hospital and college as major employers and farmers' markets. Cultural assets include strong family networks, faith traditions, the Lumbee language and history, and gatherings such as the annual Lumbee Homecoming, which draws large crowds to Pembroke each summer and offers a setting for health outreach that residents already attend.

Matching Assets to Needs

The value of an asset map lies in the connections it suggests. Because the County Health Rankings model gives social and economic factors the greatest weight among the drivers of health (Remington et al., 2015), assets that ease food, transportation and economic pressures deserve as much attention as clinical ones. For diabetes and hypertension, churches with health ministers and kitchens, the health department and the community health center could form a network for screening, cooking classes and referral. For food insecurity, farmers, church kitchens, Cooperative Extension and school cafeterias could support gardens, produce distribution and summer meals. For transportation barriers, church vans and volunteer drivers could be organized for medical trips. For oral health, the community college's health programs and the health department could explore school-based dental services. For tobacco use, the Tribe, churches and schools could deliver culturally grounded cessation support.

Gaps in the Map

The map also reveals gaps. There are few assets focused on mental health outside clinical settings, few safe places for physical activity in rural parts of the county and limited public transportation. The map is thinner for Hispanic residents, whose associations are less visible in public directories, and for residents who are not connected to any church. A full assessment would need to reach these groups directly. The map also cannot tell how much capacity each asset has; a church with a strong health ministry and one with a single volunteer look the same on a list.

Using the Map With the Community

An asset map is most useful when residents help build and own it. For a full assessment, the draft map would be shared at meetings in several parts of the county, including Pembroke, Lumberton, Fairmont and Red Springs, where residents could add assets the directories missed, correct errors and mark which assets they actually use. Churches and tribal community groups could host these meetings, which would also test whether the associations on the map are able to take on more. The map could then be published online and in print, updated each year and used by any organization planning a health program to find partners. Treated this way, the map becomes a shared tool rather than an outsider's inventory, and it sets up the community engagement methods examined in Module 4.

Conclusion

Robeson County has substantial assets for health: trusted churches and associations, a tribal government, a university and community college with health programs, public health and hospital institutions, farmland and a river, and strong cultural traditions. Matched to the needs in Module 1, these assets suggest where improvement could start and who should lead it. Module 3 turns to identifying and prioritizing needs, using both the data and what these assets make feasible.

References

Kretzmann, J. P., & McKnight, J. L. (1993). Building communities from the inside out: A path toward finding and mobilizing a community's assets. ACTA Publications.

Morgan, A., & Ziglio, E. (2007). Revitalising the evidence base for public health: An assets model. Promotion & Education, 14(Suppl. 2), 17-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/10253823070140020701x

Remington, P. L., Catlin, B. B., & Gennuso, K. P. (2015). The County Health Rankings: Rationale and methods. Population Health Metrics, 13, Article 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12963-015-0044-2