social capital | SCI Social Capital Inc.

Seven Top Social Capital Stories of the Week

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Fri, 12/17/2010 - 6:10am

Wow, there was a lot happening in the social capital world this week! Granted, our mission has us interested in a wide range of subject areas; but this week seemed particularly chock-full of relevant stories and studies. So I'm going to start early on my resolution to blog more regularly, and recap the top stories I came across this week.

Walkable Cities & Social Capital A recent University of New Hampshire study found that more walkable cities have higher social capital--this article recaps the study nicely. I suppose it's no big surprise that walking around one's neighborhood would build social capital--greeting familiar faces and maybe even stopping to chat. However, it's always nice to have our guesses confirmed with data! Those of us in the Boston area can thus take heart that placing high on the list of most walkable cities--it's good for our social capital and our health! Read more

Connected, even if we’re Bowling Alone

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Wed, 07/21/2010 - 6:11am

Though Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone isn't mentioned until p. 188 in Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks, I read Connected as an important follow-up to Bowling Alone. Putnam's work describes the importance of social capital, and the precipitous decline of that social capital was a primary reason I started Social Capital Inc. in 2002. While Putnam’s work tells us that social capital matters, Connected provides more insight into why our social networks are so important.

When out promoting SCI’s mission, I’m often sharing social capital "factoids”, and find that these nuggets have a certain "gee whiz" quality to them.

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How NOT to cultivate your social network

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 12:28pm

We often talk about how to cultivate your network--what about how not to cultivate your network? What things negatively impact your social capital? Some obvious ones would be not returning calls, not following through on something you said you would do. Continuously being on the receiving side of a relationship would be another.

I'm also thinking of a few situations lately that bring this question to mind...making referrals, and then seeing my contact handle the situation in a way that made me feel uncomfortable that I had made that referral. The take-away on this is that when someone makes an introduction for me, I need to keep in mind that the person is extending him or herself by making that connection. I need to be aware that how I proceed with that contact is going to impact my relationship with the introducer. Being insensitive to this dynamic is another way not to cultivate your network.

These are just a few additional ideas that come to mind--I would welcome thoughts from others on how not to cultivate your network! Sometimes negative examples can be valuable for our learning.

Leveraging Social Networks for Social Impact

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Tue, 03/16/2010 - 3:19pm

Last week I facilitated a discussion on "Leveraging Social Networks for Social Impact" as part of the Boston Center for Community & Justice (BCCJ) Brown Bag Lunch Series. The goals were to 1) present some general concepts about social networks & social capital; 2) share how SCI applies these concepts, especially how we train on leveraging social networks for social impact; and 3) discuss the implications of these ideas for the BCCJ network.

I promised to share my presentation and some of the key handouts with the group, and thought I'd post here to make them accessble to others interested in the subject matter. If you only see this post, you will of course miss the interesting conversation we had, but can at least glean some of the key concepts from the presentation. I've also uploaded one of the case studies we use to train on the subject, and our outreach planning tool. Visit this overview page for more background on our work to "Develop Social Capitalists" through trainings and resources like these. Read more

'09 Goal Met, Thanks to Our Friends, and Their Friends...

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 10:35am

First, the simple good news flash--we reached our year-end fundraising goal! We wrote here on 12/30 that we still needed $1365 to reach our calendar year-end fundraising goal, and we surpassed that total by mid-morning on New Year's Eve. Thanks to all who made a contribution to help us reach that goal! As noted in the earlier post, this means that we will be able to maintain our current budget & program levels as we start the new year rather than needing to implement additional budget cuts. We'll be able to keep having the kind of impact we've had over the past year. Read more

Seven Values for the Social Capitalist

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Fri, 08/07/2009 - 9:59am

We're working hard this summer on our Social Capitalist Curriculum. This curriculum will codify our 7 years of experience in a resource that will allow us to spread our impact by training people to be effective Social Capitalists; that is, leaders who possess a unique set of skills and attitudes that enable them to collaborate effectively, make connections, bridge differences, and nurture social networks to make a difference. Early in the process, we identified 9 Social Capitalist Competencies, described in this document.

In working on the training for the first competency, "Wear Social Capitalist Lenses", it became clear that we needed to define the values and principles that underly a Social Capitalist perspective. Here's my initial working list of Social Capitalist Values, concepts that one most embrace and keep coming back to in order to effectively strengthen our social fabric. I'd love to hear your feedback or additions to the list. Read more

10 Ways (and Counting!) to Build Social Capital

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Fri, 07/31/2009 - 2:32pm

As we work on our Social Capitalist Curriculum, we're thinking a lot about practical ways to teach people how to build social capital. I've begun "tweeting" these ideas and now that we're up to 10, wanted to pull together into a blog post. I'll update every time we've got another batch of 10 or so, and would welcome your contributions to the list. You can add those by commenting here (approval needed) or by tweeting them with the hashtag #socialcaptips. The idea of such a list isn't unique, in fact, the Saguaro Seminar has a great list of "150 Things You Can Do to Build Social Capital". We seek to add to the practical social capital building tips by creating one based on our experience and sharing it here and via Twitter.

1: Fix a meal for new parents in your neighborhood.

2: Share your swimming pool with neighbors.

3: Recommend local businesses that provide good service to your friends and family. Read more

A Social Capitalist Take on the Gates/Crowley Incident

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Fri, 07/24/2009 - 6:03am

We talk a lot here at SCI about the value of knowing our neighbors. To suggest why crime rates are lower in neighborhoods where people know each other, I've often used the hypothetical example of seeing someone climb into the window in a home across the street--if we know our neighbors, we know whether to call the police or go help our neighbor get into his home. Now, in the incident with Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley (no known relation!) we have an unfortunate example of what can happen when we don't know our neighbors.

With good reason, race has been the dominant theme in the dialog that has followed last week's incident, but I'd like to explore the neighborhood angle along with the racial dimensions. Let me start with the obvious point that this incident could have simply avoided had the person who called the police had known Professor Gates was a neighbor. We aren't talking about being over for regularly for butter or bagels here, but even having met a few times and exchanged hellos walking in the neighborhood would have done the trick. Simple, right? Hold on...
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In Defense of Food--and Community

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 6:41am

My interest in cooking (and eating) led me to read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, yet I was struck by how some of the societal factors that require food to be defended also contribute to the declining social capital we address here at SCI.

Pollan's basic plot, picking up where he left off in The Omnivore's Dilemma, argues that many of the poor health outcomes we see in the U.S. today result from the Western diet with its reliance on processed food, meat and dairy produced in disconcerting ways, and a limited range of grains. He suggests the link between the "food industrial complex" and nutritionists' quest for a single food factor, be it fat or carbs, that explains health also drives a frequent rollout of new fad diets and food products that at best haven't made us any better off.
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