Expanding engagement, connecting social fields: the hometown collaboration initiative

ABSTRACT

This article highlights key elements of the Hometown Collaboration Initiative (HCI) effort, including efforts made to organize and equip a representative team of local residents with the knowledge and skills needed to act on locally determined priorities. In doing so, we feature the list of projects launched in the 19 HCI communities and the catalytic effects of the initiative in four sites. Furthermore, the authors note the central role Wilkinson’s interaction theory played in framing the design of the HCI. In particular, the primary goal of the HCI was to advance each team’s program leadership roles (i.e. activities that focus on a specific social field) and track the emergence of a cadre of key individuals engaged in actions and roles across a variety of social fields (i.e. performing community leadership roles), a critical ingredient for supporting the emergence of a community field in each of the four HCI sites.

KEYWORDS:

• Interactional perspective
• civic vitality
• building capacity
• social and community fields

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Wilkinson (1986, 1991) notes that the interactional community is constituted of three important properties: (1) a locality – a place where people live and meet their daily needs; (2) local society – the set of social institutions and associations present in the social life local people; and (3) locality-oriented actions – efforts by local residents to work in concert to solve common problems and improve the well-being of residents. It is the first property of the interactional community that was employed to identify places in Indiana that would be invited to apply for the HCI program.

2. The importance of forming an inclusive HCI team is consistent with Warren’s notion of horizontal ties, the process of connecting local units to one another (Warren, 1978), as well as the “bridging” aspect of social capital, the development of relationships among people or groups from different socio-economic backgrounds and interests in a community (Pelling & High, 2005; Putnam, 2000).

3. An in-depth treatment of each of the seven community capitals can be found Cornelia and Jan Flora’s book titled, Rural communities: Legacy and change (4^th edition). The full citation for this book can be found in the reference section of this article.

4. When the selection of the HCI sites was completed, the Purdue/Ball State team visited with each of the local teams that prepared and submitted the application for inclusion in the HCI effort. The intent was to inform each team of the multiple steps associated with the program but also to make clear the importance of assembling a local HCI team that reflected the make-up of their hometown. This included the recruitment of individuals representing such local sectors as health, education, government, social services, business, faith-based organizations, philanthropy, and so on, as well as individuals from a variety of demographic (i.e. age, gender, race, ethnicity) and economic populations (especially limited-income residents).

5. Several of the local HCI team members that were part of the program remained actively involved in the “Foundation” and “Building Block” phases of the program. Once a “Pathway Project” was selected, some original members of the HCI team opted to retire from the committee. At this point, new members were recruited to take part in the HCI team, especially individuals having expertise, passion, and/or interest in the selected pathway project.