Social Capital Community Benchmark Initiative
Community Highlights For Syracuse/Onondaga County (NY)

[Community Highlights] [Survey Highlights]

Sponsoring Organizations:
Central New York Community Foundation
The Rosamond Gifford Foundation

Media Contact:
Margaret Gillette Ogden, President
Central New York Community Foundation
500 South Salina Street, Suite 428
Syracuse, New York 13202-3302
315-422-9538
peggy@cnycf.org
Web address: www.cnycf.org

Sample size:
542

Survey Area:
Onondaga County

Community type:
Urban and suburban

Population:
456,215
(U.S. Census Bureau, 1999)

Ethnicity:
White 86%
Black 9%
Asian 2%
Hispanic 2%
Native American 1%
Other
(U.S. Census Bureau, 1998)

Age:
0-19 29%
20-34 22%
35-49 22%
50-64 14%
65+ 13%
(U.S. Census Bureau, 1998)

Additional Information:
Located in the center of New York State, Onondaga County is home to the city of Syracuse. We are within 350 miles of all major cities in the Northeast. The County has an extensive transportation system in place. Thus, Onondaga County has been appropriately called the "Crossroads of New York State."

The County has a land area of 793.5 square miles and is approximately 35 miles in length and 30 miles in width. The land use pattern that has existed for several decades has led to expansion in the suburban towns and a mixed pattern of stability, decline and redevelopment of the City of Syracuse. The population of the County has declined very slightly in the last 30 years.

Why did you choose the particular survey area?
Onondaga County was selected as the survey area because it contains the majority of the population served by the Central New York Community Foundation and the Rosamond Gifford Foundation.

Survey Highlights for Syracuse/Onondaga County

Syracuse and Onondaga County results reflect a generally strong, solid community. Some of the characteristics of our community that really stood out were:

• high degree of "schmoozing" or informal social participation
  
• strong degree of involvement in groups
  
• active non-electoral or protest political participation
• encouraging results with respect to racial trust