Children's Scholarship Fund

2001 and 2008 Social Capital Benchmark Survey

In 2001, the Charlotte Region was one of 40 communities in the nation included in the national 2001 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey. Social capital refers to how connected people are in their community, and can be measured through several dimensions, such as trust, diversity of friendships and civic engagement. Communities with high levels of social capital generally have better government services, a robust economy and its citizens are more likely to cooperate for a common cause and to be convivial to one another. Results from the 2001 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey suggest that the 14-county Charlotte Region had mixed levels of social capital. While the Charlotte Region showed low levels of social and inter-racial trust, it was more likely to be generous in terms of volunteering and contributing to charity (particularly for places of worship) than most communities that participated in the 2001 Survey. In recognition of the importance of improving the stock of social capital in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, The Foundation For The Carolinas is supporting Crossroads Charlotte , a countywide civic engagement project designed to facilitate improvements in access, inclusion, equity and trust.

As part of a comprehensive evaluation strategy that measures the effectiveness of the Crossroads Charlotte project, The Foundation For The Carolinas contracted with the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute to conduct a telephone survey to gauge the social capital levels of Mecklenburg County residents. The 2008 Crossroads Charlotte Social Capital Benchmark Survey was designed to update some of the key measures covered in the 2001 Survey as well as to establish benchmark measures directly related to Crossroads Charlotte. Specifically, the Foundation wanted to ask questions regarding survey respondents’ opinions on access, inclusion and equal opportunities. A second survey will be conducted in 2011 to measure progress in these areas.

An overview of the 2008 Survey findings along with the 2008 Crossroads Charlotte Social Capital Benchmark Survey Report and the 2001 Survey Executive Summary Report are available below. In addition to presenting the frequency distributions and cross-tabulation results of respondents’ answers to the 2008 Survey, analyses of the survey findings were supplemented by revisiting four indices from the 2001 Survey and establishing five new indices from the 2008 Survey. It is important to note that the 2008 Survey was not intended to be a replication of the 2001 Survey, but rather to draw from it as appropriate and to establish benchmark measures for comparison with the results from the follow-up survey scheduled for 2011.

View the 2001 Social Capital Impact Benchmark Survey

To request access to the 2008 Survey dataset, please fill out the registration form . For further information on the 2008 Survey, please contact Eric Caratao at 704-687-2317 or visit Crossroads Charlotte or The Foundation For The Carolinas .

PUBLICATIONS

The 2001 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey was developed by Dr. Robert Putnam and researchers at the Saguaro Seminar at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro).