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Although the second of two presentations Tuesday on the Social Capital Assessment of the Crookston community had only one new attendee, Melissa Perreault, co-chair of the community project's steering committee, deemed the whole event a success, given the turnout of some 40 people at the first session.
“I was pleased with the overall outcome,” she said. “There was good representation from most sectors, including city council members and officials, health, business, United Way, UMC, the county and the Benedictine community, plus a few individuals from local organizations. The session was productive and now we just have to go on to the next steps.”
The intent of both sessions, according to presenter Jody Horntvedt, regional extension educator with the University of Minnesota Extension’s Center for Community Vitality, was to explain the community assessment process, present the data collected from last year's community survey and plan how to use the information. The first session was geared toward organizations, local officials, agencies, businesses, clergy and educational groups, while the second focused on individuals. Perreault noted that no one from the public education sector attended either session.
The assessment process and general results are covered in this story; see Thursday's Times for what it all means and how the information could be used.
Social capital
Social capital is, in the simplest sense, “the glue that holds communities together,” said Horntvedt, who helped develop the Social Capital Assessment concept for Extension in 2002. It is more complex than that, though, involving a collection of networks built through the actions citizens take every day. The strength of a community's social capital can make or break it, she added.
“It's not something you can grasp in your hand, but you see it every day and don't necessarily realize it,” she explained. “Strengthening the social capital of your community can help make people’s lives healthier, safer and richer. The more trust and connectivity among and between the different sectors, the higher the social capital.”
Assessment results
Extension has conducted social capital research in 10 rural Minnesota communities since 2002, and in a project with Temple University in Pennsylvania, 21 communities in four states are using the assessment model.
There are eight steps in the assessment process and Crookston's began in January 2009 with the formation of the steering committee, after Extension approached the city with an offer to do an assessment. Several informational and planning meetings later, 89 local volunteers were trained that spring to conduct the surveys. With Tuesday's presentation, Crookston just completed step six.
While Extension's involvement cost Crookston nothing in terms of dollars, the assessment required hard work on the part of the community to complete, said Horntvedt. This actually serves dual purposes, as the volunteers not collect the data but also actively engage in the community.
People had several months in which they could complete the survey, either online or by paper and pencil. Horntvedt noted that Crookston had a good response rate, with a quarter of its 8,051 residents weighing in on social capital. Adult responses numbered 635, with 464 youth participating.
“We tried to get a good representative sample of the population in Crookston,” she said. “For the most part, it was in terms of participation of women, minorities and seniors. However, the wealthier and more educated were oversampled.”
Over one-third of the respondents' households earn at least $75,000 annually, yet Crookston's population shows only about 10 percent earn this. Similarly, 23 percent of adult respondents have a high school education or less, while 47 percent of Crookston's adults have this level of education.
Although the scores were generally high – most in the 70s on a 0 to 100 range – Horntvedt stressed that the survey results are not scientifically based and do not constitute proof of anything or the whole story. They're intended to be starting points for community conversations on social capital.
“No community has 100, so there's always room for improvement,” she said.
Survey responses painted a community picture involving the three types of social networks: bonding (close ties), bridging (not strong, but provide more opportunities), and linking (involvement in organizations). Within these networks are three main conditions of efficacy (belief that you can make a difference, trust and engagement. The whole picture shows Crookston to be strongest in the areas of trust in all networks and bridging engagement, and weakest on linking engagement.
Education and income seem to play a significant role in all areas, with the higher levels reporting higher scores in their responses.
Some key findings:
• Older people and women tend to have a higher level of trust, as do those with higher incomes and education levels, and those who have lived in the community longer. A significant gap as to the level of trust exists between whites and non-whites, about a 10 point difference.
• Although youth and adults strongly trust community service providers with healthcare at the top and state government at the bottom, youth reporting slightly less trust of teachers and local businesses.
• As to what gives Crookstonites a sense of belonging, family is tops for both youth and adults. Youth, not surprisingly, scored quite a bit higher than adults with “people I met online,” although both groups put that last on their list.
• In bridging engagement, the youngest and oldest categories of adults report lower involvement than those in the middle.
• The findings on linking engagement, which involves participation in organizations, clubs, meetings, politics and charitable events, shows troublingly low scores, with adults at 29.6 and youth at 18.7. Club participation and charitable donations are the most common in adults and youth, and public or political meeting attendance in the past year was the least popular.
Why the lack of participation? Conflicting time demands and inflexible or demanding schedules are cited the most. Lack of child care, health concerns and transportation problems are at the bottome of the list.
“Every community is different, although their might be some similarities between them,” said Horntvedt. “Now the real work begins – you need to figure out what to do with all this.”
Although the second of two presentations Tuesday on the Social Capital Assessment of the Crookston community had only one new attendee, Melissa Perreault, co-chair of the community project's steering committee, deemed the whole event a success, given the turnout of some 40 people at the first session.
“I was pleased with the overall outcome,” she said. “There was good representation from most sectors, including city council members and officials, health, business, United Way, UMC, the county and the Benedictine community, plus a few individuals from local organizations. The session was productive and now we just have to go on to the next steps.”
The intent of both sessions, according to presenter Jody Horntvedt, regional extension educator with the University of Minnesota Extension’s Center for Community Vitality, was to explain the community assessment process, present the data collected from last year's community survey and plan how to use the information. The first session was geared toward organizations, local officials, agencies, businesses, clergy and educational groups, while the second focused on individuals. Perreault noted that no one from the public education sector attended either session.
The assessment process and general results are covered in this story; see Thursday's Times for what it all means and how the information could be used.
Social capital
Social capital is, in the simplest sense, “the glue that holds communities together,” said Horntvedt, who helped develop the Social Capital Assessment concept for Extension in 2002. It is more complex than that, though, involving a collection of networks built through the actions citizens take every day. The strength of a community's social capital can make or break it, she added.
“It's not something you can grasp in your hand, but you see it every day and don't necessarily realize it,” she explained. “Strengthening the social capital of your community can help make people’s lives healthier, safer and richer. The more trust and connectivity among and between the different sectors, the higher the social capital.”
Assessment results
Extension has conducted social capital research in 10 rural Minnesota communities since 2002, and in a project with Temple University in Pennsylvania, 21 communities in four states are using the assessment model.
There are eight steps in the assessment process and Crookston's began in January 2009 with the formation of the steering committee, after Extension approached the city with an offer to do an assessment. Several informational and planning meetings later, 89 local volunteers were trained that spring to conduct the surveys. With Tuesday's presentation, Crookston just completed step six.
While Extension's involvement cost Crookston nothing in terms of dollars, the assessment required hard work on the part of the community to complete, said Horntvedt. This actually serves dual purposes, as the volunteers not collect the data but also actively engage in the community.
People had several months in which they could complete the survey, either online or by paper and pencil. Horntvedt noted that Crookston had a good response rate, with a quarter of its 8,051 residents weighing in on social capital. Adult responses numbered 635, with 464 youth participating.
“We tried to get a good representative sample of the population in Crookston,” she said. “For the most part, it was in terms of participation of women, minorities and seniors. However, the wealthier and more educated were oversampled.”
Over one-third of the respondents' households earn at least $75,000 annually, yet Crookston's population shows only about 10 percent earn this. Similarly, 23 percent of adult respondents have a high school education or less, while 47 percent of Crookston's adults have this level of education.
Although the scores were generally high – most in the 70s on a 0 to 100 range – Horntvedt stressed that the survey results are not scientifically based and do not constitute proof of anything or the whole story. They're intended to be starting points for community conversations on social capital.
“No community has 100, so there's always room for improvement,” she said.
Survey responses painted a community picture involving the three types of social networks: bonding (close ties), bridging (not strong, but provide more opportunities), and linking (involvement in organizations). Within these networks are three main conditions of efficacy (belief that you can make a difference, trust and engagement. The whole picture shows Crookston to be strongest in the areas of trust in all networks and bridging engagement, and weakest on linking engagement.
Education and income seem to play a significant role in all areas, with the higher levels reporting higher scores in their responses.
Some key findings:
• Older people and women tend to have a higher level of trust, as do those with higher incomes and education levels, and those who have lived in the community longer. A significant gap as to the level of trust exists between whites and non-whites, about a 10 point difference.
• Although youth and adults strongly trust community service providers with healthcare at the top and state government at the bottom, youth reporting slightly less trust of teachers and local businesses.
• As to what gives Crookstonites a sense of belonging, family is tops for both youth and adults. Youth, not surprisingly, scored quite a bit higher than adults with “people I met online,” although both groups put that last on their list.
• In bridging engagement, the youngest and oldest categories of adults report lower involvement than those in the middle.
• The findings on linking engagement, which involves participation in organizations, clubs, meetings, politics and charitable events, shows troublingly low scores, with adults at 29.6 and youth at 18.7. Club participation and charitable donations are the most common in adults and youth, and public or political meeting attendance in the past year was the least popular.
Why the lack of participation? Conflicting time demands and inflexible or demanding schedules are cited the most. Lack of child care, health concerns and transportation problems are at the bottome of the list.
“Every community is different, although their might be some similarities between them,” said Horntvedt. “Now the real work begins – you need to figure out what to do with all this.”
