Belonging is Crucial.
These photos depict the best parts and best places of the Perry, Iowa, community through the eyes of Sebastian Hernandez and Jaylene Karolus, Perry residents and students at Perry High School. Sebastian and Jaylene spent their free time this spring capturing the moments in Perry that are the most meaningful to their lives, and in doing so, created stunning artwork.
These downtown storefront installations are part of We the Many, an Arts Midwest grant program that Seeks “to expand the understanding of what it means to be a Midwesterner through the creative exchange of voices, cultures, and ideas.”
A few weeks ago, I wrote 7 Signs of a Vibrant Community, which is a brief introduction to the concept of the Community Capitals Framework. As a recap, the CCF provide us with seven distinct areas to evaluate to see how healthy our places (and consequently our people) are. While all seven are necessary for having a high quality of life, I’ll defend social capital to my grave as really being the glue that binds everything else together.
What is social capital?
Great question.
Social capital is a fancy term for a feeling of belonging. That warm and fuzzy feeling you get when you remember a place to which you felt truly connected. It’s an overall sense of trust in the people of your community.***
Without it…well, let’s just say that creating a community with a high quality of life for all its members would be nearly impossible. Without trust and belonging, folks can’t be themselves. If folks can’t be themselves, they retreat and disengage. When folks disengage, places suffer. Organizations suffer. People suffer. See how this works?
***Go ahead and replaces “community” with any of the following words = towns, neighborhoods, organizations, schools, places of worship, etc, etc, etc.
In 2018, the Northwest Mississippi Regional Station of Amtrak opened in Marks, Mississippi. Seven days a week, the southbound (#58) and northbound (#59) “City of New Orleans” passenger train stops in Marks en route to New Orleans or Chicago. And seven days a week at 8:01 am and 8:31 pm, Miss Cleo, a longtime Marks resident, welcomes passengers from the “City of New Orleans” at the Marks station. Her daily greetings aren’t part of a larger PR campaign or strategy. Exemplifying Southern hospitality as it was intended, she just wants folks to know they are welcome to Marks.
Bonding versus Bridging (Or Getting By versus Getting Ahead):
Let’s distinguish between two ways that social capital can play out in a community, because too much of a good thing really can be detrimental.
Bonding Social Capital (Getting By): Bonding occurs among folks who have a lot in common, like folks in a family, a place of worship, a friend circle, a cultural group. These people feel close and connected because they have shared interests, values, and histories.
The “us” game is strong here. The shadow side of “us” naturally creates a “them.” Bonding social capital is extraordinarily common in small, rural communities, so much so that newcomers can remain perpetual outsiders and never feel at home.
Bridging Social Capital (Getting Ahead): Bridging connects groups of dissimilar people in a community. This outward-looking focus creates pathways for different groups to achieve a collective goal. Look for the metaphor: bridges safely connect two disparate places. These places don’t meld into one uber-place. Instead, the bridge preserves the qualities of each location, while allowing folks on either side to connect. Simultaneously hard and magical, bridging is really what creates forward momentum and inclusive change in a place.
Mystic, Iowa, is a former coal-mining town with a steadily declining population and a gorgeous natural landscape down the road from Rathbun Lake, my husband’s favorite place in the state.
My favorite Mystic story of Husband Aaron’s (other than his always funny “Mystic’s mystique” joke) is about James "Hangman" Ballagh. A retired graphic designer and a self-described beatnik, Hangman moved back to Mystic from California in the early 80's. He had a handlebar mustache, a Maserti decorated with hand-painted flames, and is most famously the founder of Hangman's Army. In order to curb juvenile crime, he wrangled up Mystic kids in 2001 and began paying them to clean the town. Active for years, kids as young as kindergarten-age moved beyond picking up trash and began to paint curbs, handicap-accessible parking spots and a park shelter. There was a Hangman’s Army Code of always obeying the law and never beating up other kids. Ballagh passed away in 2017 at age 85.
Proof.
Common sense aside, rural sociologist Dave Peters (and my ISU colleague) makes the case that high social capital is essential for community resiliency and quality of life. Since 1994, ISU has connected with 99 small towns (defined as fewer than 10,000 residents) in Iowa through the Iowa Small Town Poll, striving to understand what conditions create and sustain high quality of life in small communities.
A surprising and gratifying trend shows that income has less to do with quality of life, despite what we hear over and over from the media and powers-that-be. According to this 25-year study, what seem to matter more are high levels of local civic engagement and social capital, which is measured by levels of reciprocity, networking, tolerance, and trust among community members.
Big news for any community looking to increase local quality of life! Civic engagement and social capital opportunities do not often require big bucks and a five-year comprehensive plan to get going, and can have more impact than economic investment.
These photos depict the best parts and best places of the Perry, Iowa, community through the eyes of Sebastian Hernandez and Jaylene Karolus, Perry residents and students at Perry High School. Sebastian and Jaylene spent their free time this spring capturing the moments in Perry that are the most meaningful to their lives, and in doing so, created stunning artwork.
These downtown storefront installations are part of We the Many, an Arts Midwest grant program that Seeks “to expand the understanding of what it means to be a Midwesterner through the creative exchange of voices, cultures, and ideas.”
5 questions to consider for building trust and belonging:
1. Who are the newcomers in your community?
(Pro-tip: Mayor Gabe Carroll of Creston, Iowa, personally has coffee with everyone who moves to town in order to get to know them, their interests and values, and to help them get better acquainted with Creston.)
2. Who can you invite to participate, volunteer, attend, lead? As always, think beyond your STP.
(Pro-tip: Send a personal invite to a new person, not a group email, text, or Facebook announcement.)
3. What new and unfamiliar local events can your attend?
(Pro-tip: Try for one a month. Make it a habit.)
4. Are there public spaces and signage in your community that are accessible for everyone?
(Pro-tips: Consider mapping assets in neighborhood, such as parks, sidewalks, trails, etc. Determine what languages are spoken in your community and if these are reflected in public signage.)
5. Whose stories and histories are shared and celebrated and whose are left out?
(Pro-tip: Look at public exhibits of local history, murals, your community website. Update these continually with the evolving and new stories of your place.)
Next month, I’ll dive into why art can be a super-attractor for increasing trust and belonging within places.
In the meantime, what are some ways that belonging is built where you live? Does your mayor take folks out for coffee? Let us know below.
PSSSST: Check out these other community-building posts:
In 2016, The Reclaimed Project founded The Village to provide very low-cost downtown apartments for teachers who move to Marks to teach in local public schools. The downtown storefront is a community space that hosts a community coffee each Wednesday, Kids Club after school program, a Ladies in Prayer group, and Gents, a mentor program for young boys.