Overview: "Social capital" has been defined as the ability of people to work together--a sense of belonging. All kinds of volunteer groups--school, sports, senior citizen, church, veteran's, agricultural, professional, outdoor, book club, health and support, and public safety--can build a sense of trust, belonging, and social capital. Supporting children to learn communication and relationship skills is an investment in social capital. People who have different experiences and points of view can use the idea of social capital to find common ground and work with challenging social issues.

How Social Capital Works: Communities, including organizational groups, can create social capital by:

• building common ground--a sense of shared interests, concerns, and needs,
• cultural models that support successful interaction and produce results,
• trust--a sense of common understanding that can strengthen relationships, and
• networks--among teams and organizations with shared purpose.

The Payoff: Groups can build capacity for effective relationships, alignment between values and actions, teamwork, and results. Organizations and communities can use social capital tools and skills to build capacity and plan to meet future challenges- including those of business, civic, economic, and social development.

How to Make It Happen: Self-managed group process--supported by facilitators experienced with skills such as:

• cultural audits and cultural competency,
• electronic survey,
• dialog, future vision, strategic planning,
• workforce training and development,
• team building, and
• learning organization.

Iowa State University, 1996, Building Communities for Tomorrow: Community Assessment: Social Capital, Web.

Lockwood, A.T. Community Collaboration and Social Capital: An Interview with Gary G. Wehlage, 1996, North Central Regional Educ. Laboratory, World Wide Web.

Putnam, R., "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital," Journal of Democracy, 6(1), 65-78.

Sirianni, C, & Friedland, L., Social Capital and Civic Innovation: Learning and Capacity Buiilding…, Civic Practices Network, World Wide Web.

Tosti, D., Jackson, S., "Organizational Alignment: How it Works and Why it Matters," In Training, Apr 1994, 58-64.