The Net Effect

Written by Tim Buckley, February 2025

Families at Cummings Elementary School for the Cummings NFC Winter Family Game Night

Maribel Mora-Martinez sounded more relaxed after having wrapped up the last of five wintertime festivals hosted in five neighborhoods in early February. Her team of five had just sent off the summary report of those events.

Up close, the statistics look like a scattered bunch of colorful dots on a canvas. Pull back, however, and the pattern becomes a picture of growing health in poor neighborhoods.

“The net effect of these events we’ve been holding is building community resilience,” she said. “Some call it social cohesion. It’s a foundation for building social capital, political capital and financial capital. In short, this is a way to rebuild poor communities, from the grassroots up.”

Up Close

More than 500 families living in five different neighborhoods showed up for the winter festivals hosted by the Hallman, Kennedy, Highland, Cummings, and Washington neighborhood family councils (NFC) between Christmas and early February.

“We couldn’t do what we do without volunteers,” Maribel said about the core staff of five. Part of the magic of this effort is that we continue to add volunteers who want to participate in what we’re doing. Many come from the neighborhood families themselves, but we have volunteers from the elementary school staff and from local businesses,” she added.

Each event collects data (anonymously) about what families say are their greatest needs. “What jumps out consistently regardless of which neighborhood is concern about the cost (and insecurity) of housing,” Maribel said. “Close behind are other related things: access to resources to help make life easier, affordable childcare, and the impact of stress on health.”

Given the results of the national election in November, it’s understandable that “immigration” was listed prominently (40%) in the data results. These are neighborhoods in which a majority of residents have deep roots in other countries; many have family members facing uncertainty due to threats of deportation.

Standing Back

Social capital being hatched from the nest of social cohesion in these five neighborhoods:

  • The value of a new generation of leadership rising out of poor neighborhoods

  • The value of family moms and dads becoming effective neighborhood champions and networkers

  • The value of 200 volunteers giving 100 hours each a year at $20 per hour

  • The value of having mayors, city councilors, police chiefs and school superintendents attending events consistently

  • The value of building personal relationships with city “grass top” leaders

  • The value of neighborhood family council members becoming staff of nonprofit organizations that service the same neighborhoods

  • The value of tangible, lasting contributions from neighborhood businesses

  • The value of larger investments from major metropolitan businesses, who understand how social capital becomes political and then financial capital.

(L to R): Cummings Principal Andy Kronser, Keizer Mayor Cathy Clark, and CBEL’s Neighborhood Family Council Director Eduardo Angulo

The CBEL intro video details how social capital quickly translates into political capital and then financial. Social events create cohesion and neighborhood confidence. Soon, the Hallman neighborhood had reclaimed an abused city park and got the City Council to earmark nearly $1 million in a public works bond to pay for a bathroom in the park.

Investing in neighborhood revitalization and resiliency is important. Investing before there is social cohesion is a classic mistake. CBEL’s work demonstrates the value of empowering neighborhoods to prioritize their needs and become part of a team making the changes. When an empowered neighborhood then partners with the political and financial leaders, permanent change occurs.

It’s this kind of social change that makes the whole city grow healthier. In that sense, the health of each neighborhood is a building block for the health of the entire city.

Previous
Previous

Building Community is a Steady Walk to the Top, Not a Race

Next
Next

Feed the Parents and the Teachers, So the Children Don’t Starve