BATON ROUGE SCORES HIGH IN NATIONAL SOCIAL CAPITAL SURVEY
Survey Results Will Be Used to Strengthen Community

[Community Highlights] [Community Quotients] [Press Release]

Embargoed for Release
March 1, 2001

For More Information:
Kelli Stevens
225-756-9708

Baton Rouge, LA (March 1, 2001) - According to the results of a national benchmark survey released today by Harvard University, Baton Rouge possesses the same or higher levels of social capital (civic engagement) than the national average in nine of 11 areas measured by the survey. In fact, Baton Rouge shines in the areas of civic leadership, charitable giving and volunteering, religious involvement and informal socializing. Baton Rouge is also on par in the areas of conventional politics, social trust, associational involvement, diversity of friendships and social capital equality.
"These survey results provide positive confirmation for Baton Rouge," said Jeff Fluhr, chairman of the Social Capital Committee and past president of Forum 35. "The results also confirm the innate feeling of so many in our community that Baton Rouge is a tremendous city in which to live."
Mayor-President Bobby Simpson agrees. "These results are a true indication of the civic power in this community," he said. "The strengths identified in the survey will greatly assist us as we continue to build our community."
The concept of social capital was developed by Prof. Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone: Collapse and Revival of the American Community, as a measure of the strength of the relationships between people within a community. Putnam visited Baton Rouge in January as part of the Marsha Kaplan Kantrow Community Lecture series to discuss how the decline of social capital in American communities relates to the increase in social problems nationwide.
Baton Rouge is one of 40 communities to participate in the national survey, the largest of its kind ever conducted in America. The goal of the survey was to establish a benchmark of social capital in participating communities, which have made a commitment to implement long-term efforts to rebuild levels of connectedness between its residents. The survey also found that levels of civic engagement - how much residents trusted others, socialized with others and joined with others, among other measures - predicted the quality of community life and residents' happiness far better than levels of community education or income.
Local results were determined from a sample of 500 residents taken in East Baton Rouge Parish and analyzed by LSU Sociology Professor Frederick Weil. The survey results have a margin of error of +4.8%
"It's very good that Baton Rouge participated in this major national survey," said Weil. "The information gathered provides Baton Rouge with an important tool for addressing local issues."
Other local survey results include a rating below the national average but above the Southern average in inter-racial trust. Protest politics is the only area Baton Rouge is lower than both the national and regional averages.
Weil also noted that the new survey is consistent with other recent surveys in Baton Rouge. "This increases our confidence in the results," he said.
Baton Rouge's participation in the national survey was led by Forum 35's "We Are BR!" campaign. Members of the social capital committee include Fluhr, Jan Bernard, Dennis Blunt, Peter Couhig, Suzanne Galland, Jonathan Greer, Rene' Greer, Brad Lambert, Gordon Pugh, Antonio Robinson, Ashley Shelton, Christel Slaughter, Frederick Weil, and Luke Williamson.
"The survey offered us an ideal tool to know exactly how Baton Rouge compared to other communities in terms of our strengths and weaknesses," said Rene' Greer, chairman of Forum 35's "We Are BR!" campaign. "And, as we suspected, the results prove it's the people of Baton Rouge and their involvement that has made and will continue to make improvements in the quality of life in our community."
Following the announcement of the survey results, Forum 35's "We Are BR!" campaign is hosting a community forum to discuss the results and to brainstorm ways to use the information to strengthen social capital community wide.
"Forum 35 is committed to using the social capital survey results to identify ways to inspire greater community engagement in the future," said Luke Williamson, president of Forum 35. "We are hopeful that today's forum is just the beginning."
"Now we need to further invest in our community building efforts and strategically focus our community coalitions, boards and volunteers to build even more productive alliances in Baton Rouge," said Simpson. "I am convinced the leadership displayed here make us the shining light of the state."
The "We Are BR!" campaign and its involvement in the survey were funded by donations from East Baton Rouge City-Parish, The Irene W. and C.B. Pennington Foundation, Chamber of Commerce of Greater Baton Rouge and Baton Rouge Area Foundation. The goal of the "We Are BR" campaign is to highlight the positive aspects of our community and inspire civic involvement.
The Social Capital Benchmark Survey was conducted by the Saguaro Seminar at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, in partnership with a consortium of 36 community foundations and a handful of private foundations.
The full results of the national survey are available at www.cfsv.org/communitysurvey. To learn more about local efforts to build social capital, contact Kristen Kaufman at Forum 35 (225-346-0890).

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Note: One recent survey conducted by LSU's Sociology Department, which covered some of the same topics, can be viewed on the web at www.soc.lsu.edu/news/BR2000.