Social capital continued

In preparation for my presentation of social capital tomorrow, I am still trying to lay out this definition of social capital. I have a tendency to ramble on and not make to much sense... so I am a bit worried. I did read the article suggested by Professor Rhodes "Social Capital: A Conceptual History" by James Farr, which has shed some light on the meaning behind social capital. It is important to note that this was published in the journal Political Theory The definition of social capital will have a different meaning depending on the background of who is defining it... there is the political, economic, sociological, etc... as well as the time period. However, I have decided to stick with Putnam's political science definition "refers to the features of social organizations- networks, norms, and trust- that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit" (in "Bowling Alone"). Basically social capital is how people relate to other people through organizations, networks, and institutions, and the role the individual plays in these arenas.

So our youth development program as part of ALA will be a new network that we will set up in order to increase the social capital for the youth. This new group of youth will work together to increase their social capital (benefit to society as a whole); however, we have to build the bridges to the rest of society in order to make this happen. And how are we going to do that? In the article, "Connecting Youth to High Resource Adults," Sullivan argues the need for programs to create environments where youth and adult can be on more equal footing. There is a generational gap, which creates negative perceptions of the other generation, Sullivan argues. Sullivan cites examples where youth in programs have the opportunity to collaborate with important adult figures in the neighborhood, such as the girl who was excited to be asked by the police captain on how to develop opportunities for youth. If youth feel like they are respected, and not treated like "kids," their social capital is increased because they feel like they are actually improving their neighborhood.
Other skills to consider for the development program to increase social capital is civic engagement. If an individual is involved in the political process (democracy a political form of association) positively, then their social capital will increase. We need to think of ways to incorporate civic engagement as well within the program.