Deborah Puntenney, Dissertation Fellow

Deborah Puntenney Alumnae Dissertation Fellow, 1995

Deborah Puntenney, Ph.D. holds the position of Research Associate Professor in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. She works in the area of community development and teaches courses in social policy, philanthropy, gender, and the family. She is a member of the adjunct faculty at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, where she teaches U.S. social welfare policy. Deborah also operates a consulting firm specializing in the areas of community research and evaluation, social justice strategies for philanthropic and nonprofit organizations, and asset-based community development.

For the last 20 years, Deborah has been associated with the Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) and has served as Research Associate, Director of Research and Publications, and Associate Director during her tenure. She has been a member of the ABCD faculty since its inception, and has worked directly with other members on numerous community projects, as well as authoring many of the institute’s community workbooks. All of Deborah’s direct community work emphasizes the design and implementation of asset-oriented strategies toward social justice goals. Beyond her work with the ABCD Institute, her research and writing emphasize themes related to community, gender, and social policy. Recent publications include: Puntenney, D. (2013). Asset-Mapping. In D. Coghlan & M. Brydon-Miller (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Action Research. Forthcoming from Sage Publications, London. Puntenney, D., & Zappia, B. (2013). Place-Based Strategies for Addressing Health Disparities. In K. Fitzpatrick (Ed.), Poverty and Health in America. Forthcoming from ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Press, Santa Barbara, CA. Grimm, K., Walker, J., & Puntenney, D. (2013). Improving Health/Reducing Inequity: Asset-Based Community Development. In K. Fitzpatrick (Ed.), Poverty and Health in America. Forthcoming from ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Press, Santa Barbara, CA. Kretzmann, J., & Puntenney, D. (2010). Neighborhood Approaches to Asset Mobilization: Building Chicago’s West Side. In A. Goetting and G. P. Green (Eds.), Mobilizing Communities: Asset Building as a Community Development Strategy, pp. 112-29. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Dr. Puntenney’s current work falls into three categories. First, she has an ongoing research grant focused on four communities in western NY, where she provides technical support to community groups implementing an ABCD approach to building healthier neighborhoods. For this project she also works directly with the funder—the Greater Rochester Health Foundation—to develop a logic model and tools for engaging residents as the co-producers of health. She is also working with the Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo, New York to develop boundary spanning practices and curricula for health worker training that incorporates community building and community-based participatory research components. Finally, Dr, Puntenney is consulting with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on developing their new institutional approach