Things You Can Do to Build Social Capital in San Diego's Communities

Social capital is built through hundreds of actions, both large and small, we take every day. Following are a few examples of ways you and your neighbors can work to increase the social interconnectedness of your community.

• Organize a social gathering to welcome a new neighbor
• Build friendships with diverse people
• Attend neighborhood town council meetings and offer to serve on a neighborhood association committee
• Register to vote, and vote
• Volunteer your special skills to a nonprofit
• Organize or participate in a sports league as an athlete or coach
• Join local clubs
• Get to know the clerks and salespeople at your local stores
• Give to your local food bank
• Volunteer at your local school
• Join or start a babysitting cooperative
• Answer surveys when asked
• Build a community garden
• Participate in a beach or neighborhood clean-up
• Form a "tools cooperative" with neighbors and share ladders, snow blowers, etc.
• Join a carpool
• Have family and friends over for dinner
• Become a mentor or tutor
• Turn off your television and visit with others
• Host a block party or a holiday open house
• Start a fix-it group - friends willing to help each other clean, paint, garden, etc.
• Join the volunteer fire department
• Participate in an ethnic festival
• Become a philanthropist
• Tell friends and family about social capital and why it matters
• You choose . . .