BetterTogether provides
interactive ways to celebrate and learn from the ways that Americans
are connecting, and provides tools and strategies to reconnect with
others.
..."We
must learn to
view the world through a
social capital lens," said
Lew Feldstein of the New Hampshire Charitable
Foundation and co-chair
of the Saguaro Seminar. "We need
to look at front porches as crime fighting tools, treat picnics
as public health efforts and see choral groups as occasions of
democracy. We will become a better place when assessing social
capital impact becomes a standard part of decision-making."... |
Diversity and Social Capital Work:
Saguaro Seminar's Robert Putnam issues first paper discussing impact of diversity and immigration on social cohesion and civic engagement. ...more
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BetterTogether is
an initiative of the Saguaro
Seminar: Civic Engagement in America at Harvard
University. The Saguaro
Seminar issued the report Better Together, in December of 2000,
calling for a nationwide campaign to redirect a downward spiral of
civic apathy.
Warning that
the national stockpile of "social capital" – our
reserve of personal bonds and fellowship – is seriously depleted,
the report outlined the framework for sustained, broad-based social
change
to restore America’s civic virtue. Launched
by Harvard University’s John
F. Kennedy School of Government,
the Saguaro
Seminar
drew its 30 participants from academia, the arts, clergy,
business and the top leaders and policymakers
of both major political parties. Saguaro members studied
the essential character of public participation in their
effort
to develop remedies to redirect a decades-long decline.
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