People Power, Not a Portal

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Tue, 06/29/2010 - 9:24am

At the "State of Service" event put on by MassINC & AmeriCorps Alums earlier this month, creating a new "Match.com for service" portal was the idea that seemed to generate the most enthusiasm.  In these "there's an app for that" times, thinking there's a technical solution to a challenge comes naturally.  And there is certainly some evidence that doing a better job connecting people with opportunities to participate could increase civic engagement.  Back when I was starting Social Capital Inc. (SCI), I came across a League of Women Voters study which said that roughly half of the Americans they surveyed indicated that they'd like to be more civically active, and that "lack of information" was the single biggest barrier preventing them from doing so.  We have since seen similar findings in our own local survey, pointing to the need to connect people with information.Read more

How NOT to cultivate your social network

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 12:28pm

We often talk about how to cultivate your network--what about how not to cultivate your network?  What things negatively impact your social capital?  Some obvious ones would be not returning calls, not following through on something you said you would do.  Continuously being on the receiving side of a relationship would be another.

I'm also thinking of a few situations lately that bring this question to mind...making referrals, and then seeing my contact handle the situation in a way that made me feel uncomfortable that I had made that referral.  The take-away on this is that when someone makes an introduction for me, I need to keep in mind that the person is extending him or herself by making that connection.  I need to be aware that how I proceed with that contact is going to impact my relationship with the introducer.  Being insensitive to this dynamic is another way not to cultivate your network.

These are just a few additional ideas that come to mind--I would welcome thoughts from others on how not to cultivate your network!  Sometimes negative examples can be valuable for our learning.

Dorchester Youths Involved in Anti-Littering Campaign

Submitted by Social Capital Inc. on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 10:08am

Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester PSA EntryThe Dorchester Youth Council, led by SCI AmeriCorps Members, invited youth to help bring awareness to the litter problem in the community, help increase public knowledge of the impacts of litter and provide ways everyone can make a difference in keeping Dorchester litter-free.

The Dorchester Youth Council will judge the PSA entries and award cash prizes to the three groups that create the best Anti-Littering PSAs.  Youth groups from all around the Dorchester area have joined in the competition including Upward Bound UMASS Boston, BCYF Grove Hall Community Center, and the Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester.

The contest was made possible in part by a donation from SCI of $1000.

You can see several of the video PSA entries on the mydorchester website here.

How do you say leadership? Notes from Multi-Cultural Leadership Session 1

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Wed, 06/02/2010 - 8:23am

How do you say leadership in your first language?  This question kicked off an interesting discussion in our first Multi-Cultural Leadership Project yesterday.  Through this collaboration with the YMCA International Learning Center (ILC) in Woburn, I'll be training a dozen adult English language learners on leadership skills.  The students will be using the training to coordinate a WorldFest multi-cultural event in the community next spring.  They are very excited about the project, and the prospects of learning useful job skills while contributing to their new community.

Yesterday's group was representative of the diversity of the ILC, which serves students from 20 countries who speak 14 different languages. This brought a lot of different cultural perspectives to bear on our conversation about leadership!Read more

7 Tips & Counting for Leveraging Your Social Network

Submitted by David B. Crowley on Tue, 04/13/2010 - 2:21pm
Much of our training for AmeriCorps members and other community leaders this year has focused on the theme of "Leveraging Social Networks for Social Impact".  For instance, I recently led a brown bag session on this subject at the Boston Center for Community & Justice. 
Getting ready for our session on this subject matter for our Leadership Woburn adult community leader training tomorrow night, and thought I'd share the list of 7 Tips for Leveraging Your Social Network that we've used previously, and see what other additions people would add to this list.  Add your comments below: 
  1. Have clear goals in mind when trying to leverage your social network.
Read more