Community Issues and Social Capital

Frank Clearfield

Director

Social Sciences Institute

Presentation OutlinePresentation Outline1. Provide an Overview of

NRCS Social Science Institute

2. Review Community Trends and the Concept of Social Capital

3. Review SSI’s Web Based Tools

1. Social Sciences Institute1. Social Sciences Institute

InterdisciplinaryInterdisciplinary

• Sociologist

• Economist

• Anthropologist

• Environmental Psychologist

• Community Planner

SSI SSI AppliedApplied Products and Products and ActivitiesActivities

24 Technical Reports 36 Fact Sheets --

People, Partnership and Community Series

8 Web-Based Products 34 Leader-in-You

Training Tapes 2 Training Courses 14 Surveys

Technology Transfer in FY-03Technology Transfer in FY-03

SSI reached about 300,000 people

• 52,000 web visitors• 340,000 web hits• 30,000 unique web

visitors• 47,700 documents

downloaded

Google

2. Community Trends and 2. Community Trends and Social CapitalSocial Capital

Definitions of Economic, Definitions of Economic, Human, & Social CapitalHuman, & Social Capital

• Economic - land, labor, natural resources, & production

• Human - skills, talent and education of people

• Social - bonds of trust between people in communities

Changes in Social Capital Changes in Social Capital

• Political

• Civic

• Religious

• Workplace

• Social

• Volunteering

Political Participation Political Participation

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1996

per

cen

t attend pol mtgwork for ptypaid staff

Number per million people in organization

Voting TurnoutVoting Turnout

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1966 70 74 78 82 86 90 94 98

2002

PresidentialOff-Year

Civic TrendsCivic Trends

Activity• Served on a

committee for some local organization

• attended a public meeting on town or school affairs

Relative change

1973-74 to 1993-94

-39%

-35%

Source: Roper Social and Political Trends surveys, 1973-1994

Civic Club MeetingsCivic Club Meetings

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1997

# of

ann

ual c

lub

mee

ting

s

PTA membershipPTA membership (% of families with children under 18)(% of families with children under 18)

05

10152025

3035404550

1920 1930 1950 1960 1980 1990 1997

Church Membership & AttendanceChurch Membership & Attendance

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1999

perc

ent Church Records

Gallup PollAttendance

members

Participation in WorkParticipation in Work• Union membership is

down to 14 percent in 1998, from a high of 33 percent in 1952

• Average membership in 8 national professional associations showed increases from the 1930’s to the 1960’s, followed by decreases to the present

Social VisitsSocial Visits

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1999

Per

cent

(bi-

)wee

kly

Friends overVisit friends

Volunteering & Participation Volunteering & Participation in Community Projectsin Community Projects

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1999

tim

es la

st y

ear

VolunteeredCom. Proj.

What has caused the downturn in What has caused the downturn in social capital?social capital?• Generation change • Pressures of time & money• Family structure (working women)• Mobility and sprawl• Technology and mass media

– DVDs, VCRs, TV, video games, computers (Internet access, e-mail)

• Alienation from politics• Fear of _______

3. 3. Web Based ToolsWeb Based Tools

Estimating Social Capital

Technical Note: Adding Up Social Capital: An Investment in Communities

Web Based Tool, Go to http://www.ssi.nrcs.usda.gov/ click on interactive tools

Building Social CapitalBuilding Social Capital

• Identify & Recruit Community Leaders

• Develop Partnerships

• Establish Networks

• Inclusiveness

• Understand Small Group Behavior

• Understand Community Power

Other Interactive ToolsOther Interactive Tools

• Evaluating Locally Led Process

• Leadership Assessment Tool

Locally Led EvaluationLocally Led Evaluationand Training Packageand Training Package

• CD and web version tool that examines behavioral aspects of the locally led planning process

• Repeatable• Provides an overall score &

also scores for 9 areas• Training module for each of

these 9 areas

Tool to Assess Tool to Assess Leadership SkillsLeadership Skills

General Assumptions about LeadershipGeneral Assumptions about Leadership

• We are not all leaders, nor do we all need to be

• Some people are better at some things than others

• Team members play different roles

• There are situational leaders• There are multiple

dimensions of leadership

Leadership DimensionsLeadership Dimensions

• Drive• Emotional Intelligence• Building Trust• Conceptual Thinking• Systems Thinking

Leadership Assessment InstrumentLeadership Assessment Instrument

• Rates the user on five dimensions

• Provides hyperlinks– Articles– Leader-in-You Tapes– Fact Sheets

SummarySummary

• Reviewed SSI work

• Examined community trends

• Looked at potential opportunities -- social capital, locally led evaluation, and the leadership assessment instrument

Product RequestsProduct Requests

• Call 1-888-526-3227 x 2• Web site:

http://www.ssi.nrcs.usda.gov/

• Order from Product Catalog

• clearf@ncat.edu or 336-334-7058