MEASURING COMMUNITY CAPITAL #1 – SOCIAL CAPITAL

RCI Academy is planning the presentation of its first educational program on the Topic of Community Capital while RCI Community Funds Benefit LLC completes the design of its community investment fund model and engages a community for its first implementation.

?It is planned to measure the ‘community capital’ within each community in which a community investment fund may be established and operated to support underserved, economically distressed, and disinvested communities. As we are diving deep into this challenge, we have initially broken this out into:

·?????? Community wealth

·?????? Community skills

·?????? Community social capital

?In a manner similar to community wealth and skills, community social capital may be measured from the perspective of each individual, business, and organization and collectively of the community as a whole.

?As viewed, social capital represents how everyone in the community is engaged and works for a common benefit. In other words, are the residents of the community simply living within the same geographic boundaries, or are they interacting in some fashion that contributes to the quality of their individual lifestyles?

?From the standpoint of standing up a new community investment fund:

·?????? Is every resident aware of the plan to set up the fund?

·?????? Does every resident stand to gain a benefit from the operation of the fund?

·?????? Is the benefit to every resident substantial?

·?????? Does every resident understand the benefit that they may receive?

·?????? Is every resident aware that they will have an opportunity to directly invest in the fund?

·?????? Does every resident have the ability to evaluate the risk/reward of investing in the fund?

·?????? Is every resident aware that they may have an opportunity to invest side by side with the fund in specific real estate projects and local businesses?

·?????? Does every resident have the ability to evaluate the risk/reward of investing in a real estate project or local business?

?These questions raise the challenge of measurement at the resident level and at the community level.

·?????? Are there communication channels in place that may provide information about the fund to every resident?

·?????? May these communication channels be used to share information about the fund?

·?????? Do all of the residents read, view, or otherwise receive and consider the communications?

·?????? Do the communications channels enable feedback?

·?????? Do the communications channels enable an exchange of information amongst residents?

·?????? What is each resident’s financial literacy?

·?????? Where may a resident improve their financial literacy?

·?????? Are there any organizations or mechanisms for the residents to function as a group or sub-group of the community?

·?????? How can action/inaction as a community be surveyed or registered?

From the position of RCI Community Funds, a sense of community is needed to empower the community and yet the actions in standing up a community investment fund may be one of the first milestones caused by such a fund. We are working to move ‘stakeholders to stockholders’ where residents are directly and indirectly participating in and benefiting from the benefits of the community. There will be a balance between unification of the community to support community efforts and unification of the community that prevents outside support.

“At a collective level (of social capital), social relations between people have effects at group level, whether in terms of confidence, safety, solidarity, public health, or economic vitality. In this sense, community engagement and mutual trust between people contributes to strengthening collective social capital (Statistics Canada, 2015).” Measuring social capital:? A guide for organizations (2019) This paper suggests using a questionnaire to gather information. This information may be used to fix a baseline for measuring benefits derived from standing up a community investment fund.

?From the position of RCI Community Funds, support for the establishment of a community investment fund will be a manifestation of social capital at the community or collective level. The design and planning of activities to develop the fund will be, to some degree, dependent upon measuring existing social capital.

?At the community level, “The items in the indexes have been primarily from the?structural dimension ?and have included trust (general and institutional), trustworthiness, network structural characteristics (e.g. network density, strong ties, weak ties, intra-community ties, etc.), association membership and community engagement, and voluntary activities (e.g. community volunteerism, civic engagement, social and political participation, etc.). Measures used to describe?relational social capital ?have focused on social relationships, social cohesion, and social interactions. Measures used for?cognitive social capital ?have emphasized civic norms, reciprocity, trust, social support, affective bonds and collective goals.” How to Measure Social Capital . (2017)

?Below is an example prepared by the Network for Business Sustainability (nbs.net ).

It is through engaged residents that networks are built, and within these networks, resources are increased, and enhanced problem-solving responses can be leveraged (Brennan, 2007; Chaskin, 2001) Measuring the community dream: A social capital lens of capacity building initiatives (2024)

?RCI intends to address these challenges and work to increase the social capital within each community where it stands up an investment fund.

?SEE OUR NEW WEBSITE

RCI has established its website – https://www.rcicommunityfunds.com . We will be adding information on our work and the work of others who are supporting community investment to this site. All of the past editions of this Community Revitalization newsletter have been posted on the website.

?JOIN OUR GROUP

?We have established a ‘Group’ on LinkedIn as a forum for discussion and sharing information on rebuilding communities - https://www.dhirubhai.net/groups/14502175/ . We invite people who can team with us to become part of our community.

?CALL FOR COLLABORATION

?RCI is currently reaching out to people, organizations, and programs with whom its leadership team has worked to begin building a national collaboration of partners that can develop best funding practices, share knowledge, and accelerate community revitalization.

?Anyone interested in joining in this effort should contact:

Karl Dakin

[email protected]

?

COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION AT WORK – CUT BANK, WYOMING

Gary and Susan Racine acquired what is now the Big Sky Café in Cut Back, Wyoming through a loan from NACDC Financial Services (a community development financial institutions – CDFI) in 2014.

“I never knew nothing about any food industry business at all, but I just jumped in feet first along with my wife. But in the end, it turned out to be a good, little business. It didn't make a lot of money, but it served the community and it served the people, and people from Browning and all over Indian country. But anyway, it worked really well. And we serviced a lot of young people, kids, high school kids. That was their go-to place because we serve hot dogs, tacos-nachos and just fast food stuff so kids can run in and out of there. We learned a lot in that five years that we were there. And then this lady from downtown came to us one day, and she said, "I got a business that I want to sell." And so we took that other leap, we took that other leap to a bigger business, to a regular cafe restaurant style business. But if it wasn't for NACDC, I don't know where we'd be at today. It was them that brought us out. It's them that got us to where we're at today.“

?CALL FOR SUCCESS STORIES

?If you have a success story on community revitalization that you would like to share with others through this newsletter, please contact:

??????????? Karl Dakin

??????????? [email protected]

?SHOW ON LINKEDIN LIVE

?THIS MORNING, Russell Fugett was our guest on the Community Revitalization show. Bill Huston hosted the event. Bill and Russell discussed Russell’s work through Equity in Action, where it is engaged as Equity Through Action (ETA) is a full-service Black, LGBTQIA2+, woman-owned consulting firm focused on learning, culture, and innovation. This five-decade-old organization specializes in identifying, curating, and equipping organizations with the tools to transform their workplace. ?

RCI MANAGEMENT TEAM

?RCI is led by Stephen Shaff , Bill Huston , Jeff Dangremond , Aaron Shalom , and Karl Dakin , who collectively hold over 150 years of experience in community engagement, organization, and fundraising. For detailed information on the management team’s background, see here .

?The management team boasts a robust network of experts across various disciplines and leaders experienced in prior community revitalization and economic justice projects. This extensive network acts as a dynamic repository of knowledge, documentation, and financial data, serving as a foundation for the team's strategic planning and execution. Leveraging these connections, the team is uniquely positioned to implement a scalable proposed funding model with precision, drawing on proven strategies and insights from past successes.

?

?

?