There are two fundamentally different ways to address this challenge. First, there is the deficit model, which focuses on a community's needs and problems as a basis for working toward solutions or desired outcomes.

Although the first model is commonly employed by communities, years of experience and contemporary research show that there is an alternative model that may be more effective. This alternative model involves developing an inventory of the stock of community assets and building on the strengths of the community rather than focusing on the community's problems.

Admittedly, most efforts borrow a bit from both camps. But one way to revitalize your community is to address three important questions: “Where are we now?, where have we come from?, and where are we going?" A good place to begin in answering these questions is to engage in asset mapping. Asset mapping focuses on the positive aspects of the community rather than on a laundry list of everything that is wrong with the community. Asset mapping encourages looking at what’s right with a community and building on those assets. One good resource is the “Mapping the Assets of Your Community” curriculum which can be found online and free of charge at: srdc.msstate.edu/publications/227/227_asset_mapping.pdf On this Web site you will find the instructor’s guide, capacity inventory for individuals, community participation and leadership inventory, inventory of local institutions worksheet, and a PowerPoint presentation.

To specifically address the issue of youth outmigration, an increasing number of communities are exploring youth engagement strategies to help young people get involved in the leadership of their communities and to introduce youth to entrepreneurship as a potential career path. One promising practice, HomeTown Competitiveness (HTC), is a community sustainability strategy that includes leadership, youth engagement, community philanthropy and entrepreneurship as its key pillars. To learn more about HTC and its youth pillar, go to htccommunity.org