Social Capital

Lew Feldstein, president of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, spoke before the Portsmouth Rotary Club today. The topic: What is social capital? Direct from Lew's literature, social capital "refers to the bonds that tie a community together - bonds that make communities safer, schools better and people healthier. When people are invested in their communities, they are more likely to vote, volunteer and care for one another."

The core message was that our connections with other people count. These connections have more than casual meaning. Such connections impact every aspect of our life, and the more meaningful the connection, the more positive the impact. This means that volunteering for an organization - getting involved - has as many benefits for you as it does for the organization you're helping. Maybe more.

When a community has a high level of social capital, benefits are seen in the areas of educational achievement, government performance, economic growth, and community safety. That's right - the higher the social capital in your community, the lower the crime rate.

This is a similar message as is heard in relation to "take back our streets" nights, when communities gather outside to celebrate while simultaneously "taking back the streets from criminals." In Portsmouth we participate in "National Night Out" every August for that very reason. This builds social capital.

Being a community member that participates also builds social capital - for you and your community. When you sing in a choir, play in a band, take an art class, or even go for a walk with your friends.

The Portsmouth Music and Arts Center is an organization that prides itself in building social capital. Here are some examples of the PMAC experience that result in a higher level of social capital:

• We encourage ensemble experiences for all of our music students and classroom experiences for our art students. The interaction between students is a powerful experience.
• Our students are able to network within our school - especially adult students. I can name several bands that were formed by adult music students (and professionals) who met in the walls of PMAC (Crabshack, George Rinalducci and the J Notes, Elissa Margolin and Friends, to name a few).
• Our faculty and staff is a "family." We all know each other, collaborate, share in our lives outside work, and often get together socially outside of the school. We tell each other jokes, and while we take our work very seriously, we try not to take ourselves too seriously.
• Our board of directors and volunteers are passionate about arts education. They all love PMAC - they really do. This becomes a unifying bond that results in life-long relationships outside of our organization.

What does all of this mean? Lew puts it simply: the more you are involved in your community, the healthier you and your community will become. And he closed his talk with a warning. Social capital is in decline. People are less involved with one another these days. There are fewer and fewer families spending early evenings on the front porch conversing with neighbors. Fewer people are seeking out others for meaningful relationships.

My hope is that an understanding of social capital will encourage more people to become engaged with their community. With other people. We're one outlet for such interaction, but there are dozens of other opportunities presented to each and every one of us daily. The next time such an option pops up, think about saying yes.