Building Social Capital in Greater SATX
What is social capital??Simply put, it’s who we know and how those social connections can open doors to greater economic and career success. What does this mean for the Greater San Antonio region? We believe that by investing in our people and place, we will continue to grow and attract more jobs to our region.?Our people are our greatest asset in that equation. We must keep investing in our people and working to ensure that San Antonians have equitable access to the jobs, training, and connections needed to create?economic mobility.?
A recent study highlighted the?impacts of mixed-income friendships?as key to reducing poverty.?Researchers have found that social ties to more educated or affluent people, starting in childhood, can shape aspirations, college-going, and career paths. The people you know, the study suggests, open opportunities, and the growing class divide in the United States closes them off. Unfortunately, we have a real challenge in San Antonio regarding economic segregation, but, greater:SATX is implementing, supporting, and delivering on a variety of workforce programs to increase social capital among young San Antonians and decrease the income segregation gap overall.?
One of the researchers in the aforementioned study refers to how connecting the rich and poor can lift children from poverty. “It’s a big deal because I think what we lack in America today, and what’s been dropping catastrophically over the last 50 years, is what I call ‘bridging social capital’ — informal ties that lead us to people who are unlike us. And it’s a really big deal because it provides a number of avenues or clues by which we might begin to move this country in a better direction.” – Robert Putnam, political scientist at Harvard. The COVID pandemic only exacerbated these issues.?
Our very own workforce team was established to start bridging that gap simply by providing more San Antonio youth with access to professional experiences through high school job shadows and internships. To date, SA WORX programs have reached more than 20,000 students throughout the region. Alamo Fellows, our talent retention program, will expand on this effort to reach first generation college students in our area and help build upon their professional and social connections here in our community. We’re proud to launch our first cohort of students in September.?
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These are only a few examples of how the San Antonio?region is investing in social and economic initiatives that will have radical improvements for our residents. As a collective we can impact generational cycles of poverty when we invest in building social capital among our youth.?
Greater Together,
Jenna Saucedo Herrera
President & Founder @ Lizzy Perez, LLC| Inspiring Public Speaker| Highly Sought-After Certified Dare to Lead Facilitator| ICF-PCC| Helping Leaders Increase Their Emotional Intelligence| Researcher
2 年This is wonderful to see our community trying to invest in building social capital among our youth. I learned so much just by tuning into this article. There used to be limited respect for those who manage their social capital well in the community. It is a gift just as any other talents. It requires connections and relationship-building. To join collective efforts among all classes, it can be scary for individuals who have been living in privilege who think that others might take away their privileges. Opportunity/dream hoarding is a real thing. However, just as this article shares, we must help one another in order for all of us to benefit. That should be the goal of our great nation. It starts with smaller circles of collectivism. Thank you for sharing this, Jenna Sauceda Herrera.