Assessing Community Using the Seven Capitals

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Assessing Community Using the Seven Capitals

• RCCI Conference, April 2006
• Kathy Tweeten, Director, NDSU Extension
  Center for Community Vitality
• Margaret Tweten, Northeast District Director,
  NDSU Extension Service

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Goals

• To provide an overview of a community assessment
  process used in three North Dakota communities.
• To propose a way to connect institutions of
  higher education and their students to local
  communities and to each other.

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Assessment Framework

• Two pilot communities
• Watford City 1,400 population
• Devils Lake 7,200 population
• One connecting two universities and the community
• Hillsboro 1,500 population

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(No Transcript)
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Process

• On-line survey social capital (SurveyMonkey)
• Leadership interviews
• Leadership meetings
• Secondary research-
• Review of past planning reports
• Review of 3 months on news papers
• Review of Census and other data

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Reporting

• Watford City
• (see resource notebook for sample report)
• By Dr. Cornelia Flora, NCRCRD
• Arion Thiboumery, graduate student

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Findings and Use

• Watford City
• Affirming
• Good balance of capital
• Used in next planning effort
• Devils Lake
• Affirmed
• Questioned
• Planned to be used with Chamber

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Observations Questions

• Both communities have great resources
• Difference
• investment of resources
• broad based empowered leadership
• resident interest
• Questions
• Does community size make a difference?
• What factors/characteristics do progressive
  communities have in common?

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Dissertation Proposal

• Enhancing the Socio/economic Success of Rural
  Communities in North Dakota

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The Yellow Brick Road
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Statement of Purpose

• The purpose of this study is to investigate the
  relationship between development of community
  capitals and socio/economic success of rural
  communities in North Dakota

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Problem Overview

• The future of rural America depends on decisions
  made by citizens, businesses, county governments,
  state legislatures, and Congress. While much of
  the activity is local, many of the challenges in
  rural areas are common across the United States.
  
• In addition, rural leaders are seeking to
  understand how to revitalize their economies and
  are looking for models that will help them decide
  what investments are most effective in improving
  rural quality of life and economic well-being.

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Problem Overview

• Rural America leads the nation in
• Families living in poverty.
• Rate of unemployment/underemployment.
• Functionally illiterate adults.
• Many college-educated rural residents move to
  urban communities.
• Brain drain remains significant in rural areas.

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Discussion of Significance

• Rural leaders and policymakers can use the
  results of this research to design strategies for
  strengthening the quality of life within their
  communities and assessing their economies by
  examining and comparing their community assets
  against the community capitals model.

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Critics of Rural Development

• Should we continue to invest resources in
  depopulated states or follow the suggestions of
  the Poppers (1987) in the Buffalo Commons
  Movement?
• Rural residents portray as
• Destroying the land through soil erosion
• Corporate farms polluting rivers
• Farmers utilizing migrant workers for cheap farm
  laborers living in substandard housing
• Rural companies that pay low wages
• (Freshwater, 1999).

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Literature Fields

• Intangible Capitals
• 1. Cultural capital
• (Bourdieu, 1986 Kohn, 1963 Lareau, 2002 Vidich
  Bensman, 1968)
• 2. Human capital
• (Becker, 2002 Flora, 1999 Schultz, 1961)
• 3. Political capital
• (Hunter, 1953 Mills, 1956 Polsby, 1960)

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Literature Fields

• Intangible Capitals
• 4. Social capital
• (Coleman, 1988 Kaufman, 1959 Putman, 1993,
  Toqueville, 1835 1956)
• A. Bonding Social Capital
• B. Bridging Social Capital

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Literature Review

• Tangible Capitals
• 1. Built capital
• (Weber, 1968)
• 2. Financial capital
• (Weber, 1978)
• 3. Natural capital
• (Lewontin, 2000)

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• The difference between a community that is not
  losing population, increasing jobs, increasing
  assets and wealth, can be explained by which
  capitals they mobilize and how they invest them.

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Proposed Method - Qualitative

• Select two communities in North Dakota to compare
  or contrast (case study)
• Constant
• Population 1,000
• Socioeconomic Indicators
• Local newspaper
• Health care facility
• Maintaining or growing population
• Financial services
• Retail services
• Completed community planning process

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Hillsboro, North Dakota
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Proposed Methods

• Conduct community capacity assessment mapping via
  e-survey (web-monkey)
• Cultural Capital
• Our community sees itself as part of a greater
  region and considers the needs of all communities
  within that region in our planning
• Source Flora

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Proposed Methods

• Focus Group Interview (10-15)
• Selection utilize snowball effect
• Interview of decision makers
• Case study comparison/contrast
• Mix methods of qualitative and quantitative

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Just a cup of coffee away
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Connecting to Others Goal 2

• Model for other institutions
• Critical Pieces
• Connections between institutions
• Funding ????
• Connections in local community

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Challenges

• IRBs
• Funding
• Faculty buy-in
• Student involvement
• Time constraints
• Change in leadership
• Research bias

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Reporting back to local audience
Erickson - Handbook of Research Teaching in M.C.
Wittrock
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Thank You!
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Margaret Tweten -- margaret.tweten_at_ndsu.edu (701)
780-8229 Kathleen Tweeten kathleen.tweeten_at_ndsu
.edu [phone]