Community Capitals Analysis Kb Cds V1

A Community Capitals Analysis of a Regional Change Initiative:

The South East Alberta Technology Strategy

Presented by: Karen Blewett

A Community Capitals Analysis of Regional Initiatives:


Overview / Purpose of Study

• Use of the Community Capitals Framework as a positive, asset-based analytic tool to assess what community assets and resources were integral in the foundation and building of a regional rural diversification initiative.

– What did those involved in the project say was in place to make success possible?

– What investment of capitals occurred during the process?

Through the lens of the South East Alberta Technology Strategy…

The SEATS Initiative

Defining capital

What is the Community Capitals Framework?

Part 1



• Is a collaborative community initiative aimed at increasing the technology sector in SE Alberta

• Made up of technology sector partners, CF Entre-Corp and the Medicine Hat College.

• Vision:

South East Alberta will have a thriving technology sector renowned as a preferred region for technology-driven organizations, professionals and students. With leading edge infrastructure, services and networks, South East Alberta will serve as a catalyst for community-wide collaboration and growth in the Technology industry.




Background:

• Started in 2005 as a community-based project focusing on incubating start-up technology businesses, the South East Alberta Technology Strategy has evolved into a broader approach to develop the technology sector as a whole.

• This project has advanced through the following three phases:




The SEATS Initiative Over Time…




SEATS Initiative

Regional Community Partners

Funders

SEATS Project Manager

Lead Partner: Community Futures Entre-Corp



• When resources or assets are invested to create new resources over a long time horizon, they become capital

• Community capitals represent assets in all aspects of community life.

• Capital can be spent, saved, invested or lost

• Every community has seven primary capitals

So What is Capital?



Community Capitals Framework

The Community Capitals Framework (CCF) is an integrated technique that looks at what resources exist within a community and how a community can invest in one resource to create new resources (Emery and Flora, 2006).



Provides possibilities and limits to human action. It influences and is influenced by human actions.

Natural Capital

Refers to the assets in a location such as natural resources, the environment, and natural beauty.

• Water

• Soil

• Biodiversity

• Weather

• Parks and Recreational Activities

• Farm Land



• Heritage

• Ethnicity

• Symbols - sense of place

• Ways of knowing and acting

• Traditions and languages

• Festivals

• Spirituality

Appreciate and enhance local and Traditional Knowledge and to see the health of the community as our responsibility.

Cultural Capital

Reflects how we “know the world” and how to act within it.



• Knowledge

• Skills

• Health

• Self-esteem

• Leadership Abilities

Opportunities for people to apply their knowledge, skills, and abilities for the betterment of the community.

Human Capital

Is the native intelligence, skills, abilities, education, and health of individuals within a community.



• Relationships

• Interactions

• Trust and Reciprocity

• Forming groups, collaboration, taking collective action

• Collective identity

• Shared future

• Working together

People from different groups use their own networks to access resources, knowledge and information.

Social Capital

Is about the connections among people and organizations. It is the social glue that makes things happen.



Bonding Social Capital

consists of relationships among individuals and groups with similar backgrounds or interests.

– Tight, exclusive networks

– Strong distinction between insiders and outsiders

– Single answer focus

Bridging Social Capital

connects diverse groups of people within a community to each other, and to groups outside of the community

– Open and flexible networks

– Permeable and open boundaries

– Legitimization of alternatives

Social Capital



Dimensions of Social Capital

+ Bonding/- Bridging + Bonding/+Bridging

Community resists externally initiated change or infighting negates community change efforts; often little cooperation between groups within

(Strong Boundaries)

Locally initiated change driven by community defined goals with links to external resources

(Progressive Participation)

-Bonding/ - Bridging -Bonding/+ Bridging

Wealthy solve problems with financial capital; the poor have few options

(Extreme Individualism)

Community change driven by goals of outsiders; change may also be dominated by local or extralocal bosses or power elite

(Top-down Decision Making)



The ability to influence standards, rules, regulations and their enforcement.

Political Capital

Political Capital reflects:

• Access to a local office of a Member of Parliament or Member of the Legislative Assembly

• Access to local, county, provincial, or tribal government officials

• Leverage with a regional company



Includes public and private funds, land, equity, and investments.

Financial Capital

• Savings

• Debt capital

• Investment capital

• Tax revenue

• Tax abatements

• Grants

• Gifts

Financial Capital is also about how and where we choose to spend our funds – Consumption patterns



Is the infrastructure that supports the community such as telecommunications, industrial parks, main streets, facilities, machinery, water and sewer systems, roads.

Built Capital

Integrating the Community Capitals Framework

into the Analysis of the

South East Alberta Technology Strategy

Part 2



Study’s Table of Contents

IntroductionResearch Description and PurposeTheory of Change / Research ModelSignificance / Background of Research

Literature Review / ContextCommunity Readiness and CapacityAnalyzing Community-Driven Projects Using the Community Capitals Framework

MethodologyDescription of Data / Data Collection Process

Key FindingsDegree of Readiness (Pre-Existing Capitals)Process (Investment in Capitals)Impact (Change in Capitals)

AnalysisSocial Capital InvestedSEATS Strategies and Implementation Plan

ConclusionsRecommendations for Future Research



Description and Purpose of Study

Scope

• To better understand the interconnectivity of the existing and enhanced community assets in the SEATS initiative, the Community Capitals Framework is applied as an analytic tool to look at the influence of what community capitals were in place and how these capitals were mobilized as SEATS developed over time.

•

• Applying this framework lays the foundation for assessing the impact of a variety of community capital investments that occur through a project’s development cycle and how those investments translate to successful CED work in action (Flora, 2006, p. 6).



Theory of Change

Context Process Outputs and Outcomes

Pre-existing conditions

Actions, investments, intervention

Results of Actions

SEATS Characteristics and Assets(Initial stocks in capitals)

SEATS development and growth (Investment in capitals)

Positive changes in new and existing capitals(Change in capitals)

The degree of strategic readiness to mobilize outside and internal resources.

The process of the initiative and the investments made to move forward.

The impact of SEATS development.

What seems to be most crucial to have in place to move forward?

What investments on community capitals seem to have the best return on investment?

What change happened to the existing community capitals and what new capitals are now in place?



Methodology

• Using the Community Capitals Framework as a post-hoc analysis tool to detect the community capitals contributing to the SEATS project at its onset, development, and implementation.

Description of Data • Content analysis of the following data sources identified the

relative importance of each of the capitals at different periods of time in the SEATS’ process.

– Written notes taken from oral interviews with seven of SEATS’s community partners

– Typed notes from facilitated discussion of two community planning sessions in April and July 2007

– Hard copies of SEATS’s December 2008 and March 2009 Progress Activity Reports (to funders)

– SEATS Strategy 2008-2011 (Strategy development documentation)– Written notes and observations from informal interviews and

conversations with SEATS lead project partner on an ongoing basis throughout the duration of the study.



Methodology

Data Collection Process • The data was recorded by summing the number of times each

capital was mentioned in all of the data sources (using key words for each capital). The indicator of importance is the number of times each capital was mentioned.

Readiness Process Impact

SEATS Existing Assets(Initial stocks in capitals)

SEATS development and growth (Investment in capitals)

Changes in new and existing capitals(Measure of change in capitals)

Time 1 Between Time 1 & Time 2 Time 2

Apr 2005- July 2007 July 2007 - Feb 2009 March 2009

Data Collection on T 1:Interviews, 2007 Community Planning Session Notes

Data Collection between T1 & T2:Interviews, SEATS Progress Reports (Dec 08 and Mar 09)

Data Collection on T 2:SEATS Strategy Document, in-depth interview with SEATS lead project partner



Key Points

Social and Human Capitals

• The importance of social and human capital at the beginning of SEATS and through its development.

• The interaction among these community capitals serve as a catalyst to influence the growth and development of other capitals and the goals of the SEATS initiative overall.

Readiness (Pre-existing capitals) Process (Investment of capitals)

Natural2%

Human27%

Cultural14%

Social41%

Political5%

Financial6%

Built5%

Natural

Human

Cultural

Social

Political

Financial

Built

Natural0%

Human43%

Cultural7%

Social36%

Political8%

Financial4%

Built2%

Natural

Human

Cultural

Social

Political

Financial

Built



Key Points

Interaction of Community Capitals

• Reinforces how all community capitals have influenced, and continue to influence, SEATS strategies and implementation.

• A number of community capitals are invested at any given time – which demonstrates the importance of the interconnectivity of all community capitals and their ability to impact change.



Key Points

Interaction of Community Capitals SEATS Strategies / Implementation Natural Human Cultural Social PoliticalFinancial Built Total Caps

Impact / Strat

Training and workshops targeted at the technology sector

x x x x x x 6

Leveraging technology-driven opportunities

x x x x 4

Assisting companies with commercialization

x x x 3

Introducing new Post-Secondary options and increasing student numbers

x x x x 4

Supporting technology sector and individual business growth by providing mentoring

x x x x 4

Coaching and networking x x x x x x 6

Building relationships with community and government stakeholders

x x x x x 5

Improving access to financial and human capital

x x x x x x 6

Total Caps 0 8 6 8 5 8 35

Avg # of Caps / Strat



Learnings

• Great opportunity to apply a community development approach (the CCF) to an existing project both as a post-hoc analysis as well as a tool that can be integrated into future work in the evaluation of SEATS.

• Since SEATS is a current initiative, the findings from this study can be used to develop further (or targeted) articles, reports and evaluations that can assist the partners involved in the project. It can also help other community development practitioners and funders gain a broader understanding of how the CCF can be utilized in the planning and development of community-driven initiatives

• There can be a challenge with coding and overlap of capitals (due to fluid nature of community development work in projects and the measuring of change in capitals because the project is still in its early implementation stage).

www.culture.alberta.ca/communitydevelopment

Community Development Branch

Presented by:

For More Information:

Karen BlewettCommunity Development

OfficerEmail:

[email protected]

Business

Community Capitals Analysis Kb Cds V1