Social Capital Community Survey
Shows Area's Strengths And Needs For Improvement
Guilford County Residents Rank High In Faith-based Activity, Volunteerism And Charity, Low In Trust, Socializing And Political Activism

[Community Highlights] [Press Release]

Embargoed For Release: March 1, 2001
Contact: Melissa Staples
(336) 379-9100

GREENSBORO, NC - Citizens in Guilford County attend places of worship more, volunteer their time and talents more, and give more money when compared to national averages. However, the area ranks below national averages when it comes to trusting one another, socializing with friends, and being politically active.

This is according to the results found in the Social Capital Community Benchmark Study funded by the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro and seven local foundations: Joseph M. Bryan Foundation, Cemala Foundation, Hillsdale Fund, News & Record Foundation, the Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation, Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation and the Weaver Foundation.

Social Capital is a term coined by Harvard University political scientist Robert Putnam that refers to a community's connectedness, social and political involvement, and the feelings of trust and reciprocity between people.

According to Putnam, communities high in social capital tend to have faster economic growth, higher educational achievement, more effective governmental institutions, less crime and violence and happier, healthier citizens.

"What Professor Putnam's research shows is that strong social ties and civic engagement are vitally important to helping a community progress on social as well as economic levels," says Walker Sanders, President of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro. "Just as you need investment capital to prosper and human capital to grow, you need strong social capital to make necessary and lasting change in a community. If social capital is fragmented or lacking in a community, it becomes more difficult for citizens in that community to make decisions and act upon them."

The Social Capital Benchmark Study is comprised of a national sample of 3,003 respondents and representative samples in 40 communities nationwide (across 29 states) covering an additional 26,200 respondents. Sample sizes varied in each community from 500 to 1500 interviews. In North Carolina, community foundations in Greater Greensboro, Charlotte and Winston-Salem all participated. The survey itself was designed by the Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America, a project at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Principal investigator on the project was Professor Robert D. Putnam.

The survey, averaging 26 minutes, was conducted by telephone using random-digit dialing during July to November 2000. In Guilford County, the surveying primarily took place during September and October 2000 with a total sample of 752 respondents. TNS Intersearch, an international survey firm, conducted the interviewing for all respondents nationwide. The Center for the Study of Social Issues (CSSI) at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro provided primary research assistance in analyzing and interpreting the survey data for Guilford County. Associate Director Doug Easterling, Ph.D., served as academic partner for the project locally.

Respondents were asked questions about a variety of personal connections including neighborhood groups, club memberships, public affairs participation, faith-based activities, volunteerism, and socializing with friends and colleagues. The survey evaluated the relative strengths and areas for improvement in a communities' civic behavior and set a baseline against which future progress can be measured. This is the largest investigation of civic engagement ever conducted in America.

"The survey clearly shows that there are multiple dimensions to social capital," Sanders notes, "Just as communities are unique, so too are their levels of social capital. There's no simple answer to the question of how much social capital there is in our community."

The eleven dimensions of social capital described in the survey are: trust, political engagement, giving and volunteering, faith-based engagement, informal socializing, involvement in associations, civic leadership, diversity of friendships and equality of civic participation.

The picture that emerges for Guilford County is that of a strong faith-based community where people devote a great deal of time, energy and money to religious activities and causes.
"We are a compassionate community and tend to interact to a high degree through our religious organizations," Sanders says. "Our community has a strong ethic towards volunteering, helping others and giving to charities."

The survey also describes a community where people from all walks of life are actively involved in civic life, including civic leadership roles. However, we tend to interact more in formal, structured settings than do people in other communities nationwide. In other words, Guilford County residents report high levels of group activity but lower levels of informal socializing such as meeting with co-workers after work, having friends over to the house, visiting with relatives and generally "hanging out" with friends in parks or other public places.

"Although we are above average when it comes to civic engagement and participation, we don't seem to be particularly trusting of one another compared to other regions of the country," Sanders says. "Our time spent in formal group activities has not translated into building strong personal relationships across economic, racial or educational lines. In our community, people are not as connected in informal environments as they are in other parts of the country."

In terms of political activity, residents of Guilford County tend, on the whole, to be polite and non-confrontational. Political activism and "protest politics" are not priorities for many citizens.

By The Numbers: Where Guilford County Ranks In Social Capital

In order to compare communities that vary tremendously one from another, a "Community Quotient" or CQ has been developed. Along every dimension of social capital (such as social trust, faith-based participation, civic leadership, etc.) the CQ score shows a community's performance relative to what was predicted given its urbanicity, ethnicity, levels of education and age distribution.

This score is designed to standardize the comparisons so that a rural community in South Dakota can be more meaningfully compared to an urban metro area such as Atlanta. A score above 100 indicates that the community shows more of this dimension of social capital than its demographics would predict. Conversely, a score below 100 indicates that a community shows less of this type of social capital than its demographics would suggest. Roughly 68% of all communities fall in the 85-115 range, and almost 95% of all communities fall in the 75-130 range.

The strength of the Guilford County's social capital lies largely in its faith-based participation, which ranked 6th among the 40 community participants (CQ=118). Guilford County ranks 2nd in giving and volunteering with levels of charitable giving far outpacing the national norm (CQ=125). The community also ranks high in formal group associations (not including religious organizations). Our CQ is 111 for this index of group involvement which includes the arts, care for the elderly, charity & social welfare organizations, PTA, and neighborhood organizations. We rank 9th in civic leadership (CQ=109) which is a composite measure of how frequently people engage in a group or civic activity and whether they take a leadership role within these groups.

The region's weaker points of social capital are reflected in the survey's results regarding social and racial trust, diversity of personal friendships, and informal socializing. Compared to the other community participants, Guilford Country ranked 25th in social trust (trust of neighbors, co-workers, shop clerks, police, etc.), 21st in inter-racial trust, and 34th in informal social interaction with neighbors, co-workers and friends.

Guilford County is fairly typical in terms of participating in the electoral process (17th), but not overly engaged in direct political action (i.e. protest politics or political activities that include protests or grass roots efforts) where the area ranked 36th.

"A Snapshot In Time"

"One thing people need to take away from these results is that this is a snapshot in time describing levels of social capital at this particular moment," says Sanders. "How we build upon our strengths as a community and use them to address specific areas that may need improvement is up to all of us."

The Community Foundation, as well as other underwriters of the study, is planning over the next several months to present these findings to a broad range of community organizations, area colleges and universities, businesses and the public at large in order to stimulate dialogue and create new ways the residents can come together to improve the region's Social Capital.

"We hope to encourage improved understanding and facilitate discussions within every segment of the community in regards to social capital, and how it impacts the quality of life in Greensboro," says Sanders. "As a result, we hope citizens, churches and businesses will take the time to get to know each other on a deeper level so that we can work more closely and efficiently together to positively impact the quality of our schools, economy and quality of life."

The Numbers In Depth

Faith-Based: Guilford County's CQ is 118, which placed it 6th out of 40 communities.
66% of Guilford County Residents are members of a faith community, compared to 58% nationally; 70% attend religious services at least once a month, compared to 61% nationally.

Giving & Volunteering: With a CQ of 125, Guilford County ranked 2nd overall, (tied with the Charlotte area). Clearly, this is a very giving community, with the average contribution to religious charities at $1,275 over the past 12 months, compared to $1,035 nationally. Giving to non-religious charities averaged $530, compared to $481 nationally, or 10% above the national average. Volunteerism: 55% of Guilford County respondents say they have volunteered at least once in the past 12 months: 33% at church; 35% for a charity organization; 24% for a neighborhood civic group; 24% for a health-related group or cause; 16% for an arts or cultural organization; and 33% for schools and youth programs.

Associational Involvement: The county ranks 11th with a CQ of 111, when it comes to formal group involvement of its residents. 35% of Guilford County residents are involved in charity or a social welfare organization that provides services to community residents, compared to 32% nationally; 28% are involved in a neighborhood organization, compared to 20% nationally; and 27% are involved in the PTA, compared to 20% nationally.

Civic Leadership: The county ranks 9th in leadership among the communities with a CQ of 109. 49% of Guilford County residents have attended at least one club meeting in the past year, and 20% have served as an officer in a local organization, compared to 18% nationally. For blacks, that number is 20% locally, compared to just 15% nationally. Among whites in Guilford County, 21% says they have served as an officer, compared to 19% of whites nationally.

Social Trust: Guilford County ranks 25th out of 40 with a CQ of 96. Overall, 41% of Guilford County respondents agreed that most people can be trusted, compared to 47% nationally; 44% indicated they trust their neighbors "a lot", compared to 49% nationally; 44% said they trusted co-workers "a lot", compared to 53% nationally; 23% trust people who work in stores "a lot", compared to 29% nationally; and 46% trust the police "a lot", compared to 51% nationally.

Inter-Racial Trust: A CQ of 95 gives Guilford County a ranking of 21st among the 40 communities. 28% of Guilford County residents indicate they trust whites "a lot", 24% indicated they trust blacks "a lot", and 22% indicated they trust Hispanics "a lot." HOWEVER, these results reflect a generalized suppression of social trust in one another as opposed to targeted mistrust of people from different races: Whites in the county are less trusting of blacks compared to the national sample, but whites in the county are also less trusting of other whites when compared to the national sample. Blacks in Guilford County reported that they are no less trusting of whites than they are of other blacks. In particular, 83% of blacks reported the same level of trust for whites. Both whites and blacks (14%) report they trust Hispanics less than they do a person of their own race).

Informal Socializing: On average, Guilford County residents score 13% lower than comparable communities when it comes to interacting informally with others outside of formal or structured activities.

Political Engagement: 84% of those Guilford County residents sampled indicated they are registered to vote, compared to 80% nationally. 33% of residents reported being "very interested" in politics and national affairs, compared to 33% nationally. Surprisingly, 48% of the sample could not name either U.S. Senator Jesse Helms or John Edwards, and on a national level, 59% could not correctly name either of their state's senators.

Protest Politics: Guilford County's CQ is 86, which placed it 36th out of 40 communities. In Guilford County, 41% said they attended at least one public meeting in the last 12 months, and on average attended 2.2 meetings. 16% attended a political meeting in the past 12 months, compared to 18% nationally. Only 7% attended or participated in a political demonstration.

The Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro was established in 1983 by a group of citizens interested in ensuring a strong future for Greensboro. With assets of approximately $65 million, The Foundation supports charitable programs in Guilford, Alamance and other nearby areas.