How do we develop strategies to increase community trust and engagement? That's just what Harvard Professor Robert D. Putnam of the JFK School of Government was interested in finding out when he began years of research on social capital in America. His findings on how we have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and our democratic structures — and how we may reconnect — were first published in a 1995 article and in the eye-opening book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (www.bowlingalone.com). Putnam also initiated The Saguaro Seminar on Civic Engagement in America, which in December 2000 issued a report entitled "Better Together: Report of the Saguaro Seminar on Civic Engagement in America, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: 2000)." The entire report (along with other good resources, including an interactive story collector) is available online from www.bettertogether.org.

We were particularly drawn, however, to information contained in the report's conclusion — a list of 100 Ways to Build Social Capital — since it dovetails nicely with our reasons for starting (and continuing) Valley Viewpoint. Drawn from people and groups throughout the country, the list offers suggestions, some big, some small, for building and encouraging community. As the introduction says, "social capital is built through hundreds of little and big actions we take every day…You know what to do. Build connections to people. Build trust with others. Get involved." We couldn't agree more.

If you've got suggestions to add to this list, we'd love to hear them. And we'll include them in an upcoming issue of Valley Viewpoint.

Click here for the complete list of 100 Ways to Build Social Capital


1. Organize a social gathering to welcome a new neighbor

2. Attend town meetings

3. Register to vote and vote

4. Support local merchants

5. Volunteer your special skills to an organization

6. Donate blood

7. Start a community garden

8. Mentor someone of a different ethnic or religious group

9. Surprise a new neighbor by making a favorite dinner–and include the recipe

10. Tape record your parents' earliest recollections and share them with your children

11. Plan a vacation with friends or family

12. Don't gossip

13. Help fix someone's flat tire

14. Organize or participate in a sports league

15. Join a gardening club

16. Attend home parties when invited

17. Become an organ donor

18. Attend your children's athletic contests, plays and recitals

19. Get to know your children's teachers

20. Join the local Elks, Kiwanis, or Knights of Columbus

21. Get involved with Brownies or Cub/Boy/Girl Scouts

22. Start a monthly tea group

23. Speak at or host a monthly brown bag lunch series at your local library

24. Sing in a choir

25. Get to know the clerks and salespeople at your local stores

26. Attend PTA meetings

27. Audition for community theater or volunteer to usher

28. Give your park a weatherproof chess/checkers board

29. Play cards with friends or neighbors

30. Give to your local food bank

31. Participate in walk-a-thons

32. Employers: encourage volunteer/community groups to hold meetings on your site

33. Volunteer in your child's classroom or chaperone a field trip

34. Join or start a babysitting cooperative

35. Attend school plays

36. Answer surveys when asked

37. Businesses: invite local government officials to speak at your workplace

38. Attend Memorial Day parades and express appreciation for others

39. Form a local outdoor activity group

40. Participate in political campaigns

41. Attend a local budget committee meeting

42. Form a computer group for local senior citizens

43. Help coach Little League or other youth sports – even if you don't have a kid playing

44. Help run the snack bar at the Little League field

45. Form a "tools cooperative" with neighbors and share ladders, snow blowers, etc.

46. Start a lunch gathering or a discussion group with co-workers

47. Offer to rake a neighbor's yard or shovel his/her walk

48. Join a carpool

49. Employers: give employees time (e.g., 3 days per year to work on civic projects)

50. Plan a "Walking Tour" of a local historic area

51. Eat breakfast at a local gathering spot on Saturdays

52. Have family dinners and read to your children

53. Run for public office

54. Stop and make sure the person on the side of the highway is OK

55. Host a block party or a holiday open house

56. Start a fix-it group–friends willing to help each other clean, paint, garden, etc.

57. Offer to serve on a town committee

58. Join the volunteer fire department

59. Go to church...or temple...or go outside with your children–talk to them about spirituality

60. If you grow tomatoes, plant extra for an lonely elder who lives nearby – better yet, ask him/her to teach you and others how to can the extras

61. Ask a single diner to share your table for lunch

62. Stand at a major intersection holding a sign for your favorite candidate

63. Persuade a local restaurant to have a designated "meet people" table

64. Host a potluck supper before your Town Meeting

65. Take dance lessons with a friend

66. Say "thanks" to public servants – police, firefighters, town clerk, etc.

67. Fight to keep essential local services in the downtown area–your post office, police station, school, etc.

68. Join a nonprofit board of directors

69. Gather a group to clean up a local park or cemetery

70. When somebody says "government stinks," suggest they help fix it

71. Turn off the TV and talk with friends or family

72. Hold a neighborhood barbecue

73. Bake cookies for new neighbors or work colleagues

74. Plant tree seedlings along your street with neighbors and rotate care for them

75. Volunteer at the library

76. Form or join a bowling team

77. Return a lost wallet or appointment book

78. Use public transportation and start talking with those you regularly see

79. Ask neighbors for help and reciprocate

80. Go to a local folk or crafts festival

81. Call an old friend

82. Register for a class – then go

83. Accept or extend an invitation

84. Talk to your kids or parents about their day

85. Say hello to strangers

86. Log off and go to the park

87. Ask a new person to join a group for a dinner or an evening

88. Participate in pot luck meals

89. Volunteer to drive someone

90. Say hello when you spot an acquaintance in a store

91. Host a movie night

92. Exercise together or take walks with friends or family

93. Assist with or create your town or neighborhood's newsletter

94. Organize a neighborhood litter pick-up – with lawn games afterwards

95. Collect oral histories from older town residents

96. Join a book club discussion or get the group to discuss local issues

97. Volunteer to deliver Meals-on-Wheels in your neighborhood

98. Start a children’s story hour at your local library

99. Be real. Be humble. Acknowledge others' self-worth

100. Tell friends and family about social capital and why it matters

This list is reprinted from "Better Together: Report of the Saguaro Seminar on Civic Engagement in America, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: 2000)." The entire report is available at www.betterliving.org.

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