"People really want to get involved. They really want to. They‛re looking for a way to turn their frustration, excitement, anxiety into action. The theme of my work in community for my entire life [is] that there are assets and gifts out there in communities, and that our job as good servants and as good leaders is not only just being humble, but it‛s having the ability to recognize those gifts in others, and help them put those gifts into action. Communities are filled with assets that we need to better recognize and mobilize if we‛re really going to make a difference."

Ron Dwyer-Voss
www.solutionsrdv.com has been a community organizer, community development corporation director, leadership development coach and trainer and an elected school board member.  He began working with the predecessors to the ABCD model of community development while organizing in Chicago.

Since then he has focused his work with faith based communities, African-American, Latino and SouthEast Asian communities and a mix of urban and rural communities.  He is the past chairperson of the National Community Building and Organizing Iniative of NeighborWorks (NW) America and has provided training in community engagement and mobilization at NW  Training Institutes around the country.  He also trains school board members and administrators in California on how to more effectively engage their communities in local schools, as well as how to mobilize their communities to advocacy. Ron is a husband, a parent of two wonderful teenagers and loves to spend time at the beach and playing in water.

"Ron Dwyer-Voss has been organizing or leading urban neighborhoods and small towns since I met him in 1988.  He naturally embraces an asset based approach to his life and work and has developed new ways for resident based organizations and associations to effectively develop power in their communities.” – John Kretzmann, Ph.D., Founder and Co-Director, Asset Based Community Development Institute, Northwestern University.

Mike’s focus is the practical implementation of ABCD principles. Mike was the training director of the ABCD Institute’s Neighborhood Circle for four years. Mike is a founding member of the ABCD Training Group. Mike Green, Henry Moore and John O’Brien have published a new book and DVD about ABCD implementation for successful community partnerships: “When People Care Enough To Act:ABCD In Action” (published by Inclusion Press, 2007.)

Mike has worked for over twenty five years as a community organizer and community builder. He has experience developing neighborhood resident organizations, congregation based organizations, and community partnerships to address social and economic issues. Mike has also worked in business, having started three different companies. Mike is a social worker (M.S.W.) and has worked in human services, public welfare, mental health and schools. Mike helped start a small public school in Denver based on ABCD principles. Mike’s work focuses on the question of building more inclusive connected communities with more social networks, connections, and relationships. Out of care and relationship we act.

"Mike has a unique and rich set of experience and skills. We believe that Mike's many years of successful community organizing, community building and ABCD-related work make him an invaluable resource." - John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann, founders of ABCD Institute