By Fred Tuccillo, Managing Editor
Bernadine Aubert takes photography classes at the Princeton Senior Resource Center and participates in Lawrence Township’s Community Gardens.
Jinny Van Wynen Baeckler is a leader in the planning of Plainsboro’s new public library.
The 70-piece Blawenburg Band in Montgomery performs in some 60 community concerts, parades and other events every year.
Jessica Durrie, founder of Small World Coffee, works to make sure her Princeton establishment provides a strong sense of community for customers and staff.
All are featured as models of civic engagement and community involvement in a report — just released by the Princeton Area Community Foundation — which suggests that Central Jersey residents are as engaged as their national counterparts in such activities but are also in a position to do more.
”Our numbers were strong, but they could be stronger,” said Nancy Kieling, president of the Princeton Area Community Foundation, which partnered with the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce Foundation to commission the survey. “We believe that in an area that scores so high in so many areas, our levels of social capital should be similarly high.”
The two foundations have announced a five-year initiative that will challenge community leaders to increase social capital in the region, in part through the awarding of $2.5 million in grants “to organizations encouraging greater social interaction and building bridges among people and towns.”
Their “Social Capital Benchmark Survey” was based on interviews with 870 people in 19 communities, including Princeton, West Windsor, Lawrence, Hopewell, Pennington, Hamilton, East Windsor, Hightstown, Ewing and Robbinsville in Mercer County; Montgomery, Rocky Hill, and Kingston in Somerset County and Plainsboro, South Brunswick and Cranbury in Middlesex County.
The findings compare Central Jersey with the rest of the U.S., reporting, for example, that respondents here spend 47.2 hours per week commuting and working, compared to 49.3 hours for their national counterparts:
Other key findings:
• 56 percent of Central Jersey respondents said they were “well connected with immediate neighbors,” compared to 48 percent in the national sample;
• 38 percent said they are involved in charity or social welfare, compared to 34 percent nationally;
• 23 percent said they were involved in literary, art, discussion and strategy groups, compared to 19 percent nationally;
• 51 percent of Central Jersey residents hold bachelor’s degrees, compared to 28 percent nationally;
• 36 percent of Central Jersey households report incomes over $100,000, compared to 15 percent nationally.
The results raise “challenging questions,” according to Dr. Marc Weiner of the Bloustein Center for Survey Research at Rutgers, who served as the project’s principal investigator.
”If we have fewer constraints because our education, income, and trust levels exceed the national average, and we are no busier than others, how is it that we score only average in our rates of civic engagement and volunteerism? Are we living up to our potential?” Dr. Weiner asked.
The initiative will kick off with an informational campaign — called “better together” — through spring and summer, capped by a regionwide fall forum, the organizations said.
CEOs of local businesses and leaders of academic, religious and nonprofit organizations will be called upon to encourage workers, members and clients to consider undertaking such outreach activities as service on local nonprofit and community boards, exploring opportunities to get to know their communities and neighbors better, or simply reaching out by sitting with new co-workers at lunch.
The activities are all cited by the report as components of “social capital,” defined by Dr. Weiner as the interpersonal networks “that bind us together — literally who knows and trusts whom, and the character and strength of our personal and business relationships.”
High levels of social capital “are good for residents, for businesses, and will help build stronger communities throughout central New Jersey,” said Karen Colimore, president of the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The benefits include “improved educational achievement, better performing governments, stronger local economies and less crime and violence,” Ms. Colimore said. “And people living in these communities generally report being happier and healthier.”
Mrs. Aubert, a retired librarian, said, “I like the interaction with other people with similar interests.” In addition to the Community Gardens in Lawrence, she participates in photography, drumming and environmental policy classes at the Princeton Senior Resource Center. “Each day, it gets me up and out, reading and learning things in classes,” she said. “It’s stimulating.”
Ms. Kieling noted, “With ‘Better Together,’ we want people to understand that by simply stopping and taking a moment to talk with one another, they’re taking an important step toward increasing our region’s social capital. Welcoming a new neighbor, offering to pick something up at the store, greeting your fellow commuter on the train — small gestures that build connections go a long way.”
The potential of the Plainsboro Public Library’s new location, in the township’s new village center, energizes Ms. Van Wynen Baeckler’s planning work.
”It will put the library in the hub of activity,” she said. “We’re going to bring services to the commercial and economic center of the town.
The Blawenburg Band in Montgomery gives more than half its concerts at nursing homes and retirement centers, according to its director, Jerry Rife, a Rider University music professor. “It’s not about money, it’s about community service,” Mr. Rife said.
Ms. Durrie, who opened Small World Coffee at 14 Witherspoon St. in Princeton in 1993, has a mantra about such connections. “Community does not just happen,” she said. “You have to work on it every day.”
In their joint information campaign, the community foundation will focus on the region’s municipalities, including elected representatives and municipal officials, and nonprofit organizations. The chamber foundation will focus on businesses.
”We hypothesize that our social capital baseline scores would look far less positive if they were compared with other regions of the country enjoying greater economic growth than we have versus a national average,” Ms. Colimore said. “We believe improving social capital is the key to improving regional economic growth.”
The benchmark survey was modeled on similar ones conducted in 29 other regions across the country. The questionnaire was adapted from a seminar titled “Civic Engagement in America,” an on-going program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Questions cover such areas as social and interracial trust, involvement in associations, diversity of friendships, faith-based involvement, informal socializing, civic leadership and volunteering.
Complete survey results can be found on both the Princeton Area Community Foundation and the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce Foundation Web sites:
• www.pacf.org.
• www.princetonchamberfoundation.org.
”This is a first-ever snapshot of us,” said Ms. Colimore. “It’s the first time we’ve ever quantified how we relate to one another in central New Jersey. We want the survey results to stimulate thought and shape discussions about planning for our common health and well-being for years to come.”
