Written by: Dan Bammes
The Utah Foundation’s project on social capital has included a series of reports on the idea and its potential application to communities in Utah. The project was guided by members of the Utah Foundation’s Board of Trustees, including Sandy City Council member Aaron DeKeyzer. He joins Utah Foundation President Shawn Teigen and Research Director Christopher Collard for a roundtable discussion.
Written by: Dan Bammes
What has all this study and conversation about social capital meant as the Utah Foundation has looked at it from multiple angles? Social capital – defined as the value of relationships in families and the larger community – is an extremely valuable asset, every bit as important as money in the bank for the places and people that have it. Utah Foundation staff looked back on the series of reports about social capital, talking about … Continued
Written by: Dan Bammes
Over the past year, the Utah Foundation has published a series of reports looking at social capital in Utah – the idea, as expressed by Harvard Professor Robert Putnam, that our connections between individuals and the broader community improve not only our own well-being but that of the places we live and the nation as a whole. One key aspect of that is social mobility – improving each family’s station in life. As the report … Continued
Written by: Dan Bammes
As we age, all of us will need a safe place to live and a means of transportation to meet our basic needs and avoid the social isolation that can make life difficult for older Americans. Utah Foundation supporter HNTB recently sponsored a community conversation on the idea of “aging in place.” In this edition of Utah Thrives, we explore ways to address issues both big and small that will help set the agenda … Continued
Written by: Dan Bammes
There’s good news and bad news in the newest report in the Utah Foundation’s social capital series. The good news is that Utah far outdistances every other state in several key metrics of community life. The bad news is that Utah’s community life index score has fallen by over 40% since 2013. In this podcast, Dan Bammes talks with Utah Foundation staff and board members Ben Brown and Mary Catherine Perry.
Written by: Dan Bammes
Listen to our latest episode of Utah Thrives, where we discuss one of our Social Capital Index project reports: Households and Heritages: How Family Health Hooks into Social Capital. In this episode, Dan Bammes guides us through a discussion with Shawn Teigen, the Utah Foundation’s President, and Bill Crim, President and CEO of the United Way of Salt Lake and a Utah Foundation board member. We cover the data and importance of family structure and family ties.
Written by: Dan Bammes
Listen to our latest episode of Utah Thrives, where we discuss a hot topic: redistricting. In this episode, Dan Bammes features a discussion with Christopher Collard, Research Director of the Utah Foundation. Christopher talks about the Utah Foundation’s redistricting tool, which enables Utahns to experience redistricting firsthand. In addition, Christopher highlights findings from a survey of city officials, which includes a question about keep together “communities of interest,” which is one of the priorities of Utah’s redistricting … Continued
Written by: Dan Bammes
Listen to our latest episode of Utah Thrives, where we discuss one of our Social Capital Index project reports: Tots and Tomorrow: How a Focus on Future Generations Generates Social Capital. In this episode, Dan Bammes guides us through a discussion among Utah Foundation staff and board members. We cover the data and importance of these future-generations metrics. Access the full report here.
Written by: Dan Bammes
Listen to our latest episode of Utah Thrives, where we set the stage for our upcoming series of reports on social capital. We revisit a clip of our interview with Robert Putnam in 2019 and hear an overview of our social capital project by Research Intern Laura Pacheco. We also interviewed Silvia Castro Bennett of Suazo Business Center and Bill Crim of United Way Salt Lake to understand how their organizations leverage social capital to … Continued
Written by: Dan Bammes
Federal law requires hospitals to post the prices of medical and surgical procedures on their websites in the hope that health care consumers will be able to make informed decisions about which providers to go to. The intention was to allow market forces to reduce the cost of health care and to empower patients and their families to make better decisions. The Utah Foundation has been studying these issues and recently published a report, … Continued