Social Capital and Crime

With Ben Winchester, sociologist and research fellow with the University of Minnesota Extension and 2004 BCLP alumnus.

We all have a role to play in building the partnerships to meet the emerging challenges for community safety.  The safest communities are not those with the most police and prisons but those with the strongest community structures, including socializing institutions, families, and economic opportunities.

Overall, we live in a safe state.  The state of Minnesota ranks 21st in the nation for total population, yet ranks 33rd in terms of crime rates.  The highest rate of criminal behavior involves the property crime of larceny-theft, which impacts roughly two of every 100 people.  Rural crime rates are much lower, ranging from a quarter to a third the rate found in urban areas.

Meth Initiative Rallies Community

Itasca County Sheriff Pat Medure, 1996 BCLP alum, realized just how big the numbers were about five years ago.

At that time, in this rural northern Minnesota county of about 40,000, approximately 95 percent of those arrested and/or booked into the local jail each year had methamphetamine in their possession or in their system. Itasca County, like other rural counties, was in the midst of a national meth epidemic. “It wasn’t just an Itasca County problem, it was a state and national problem,” said the sheriff.

Leads by Example

Fond du Lac Reservation Health Educator

By Lisa Baumann, Pine Journal, Cloquet

Editor’s Note: Nate Sandman is a 2007 BRCLP alum. This article and photo originally appeared in the Pine Journal as part of an “Our Neighbors” series. Reprinted with permission.

Nate Sandman believes in mission statements. Not only does he have one in his profession as lead health educator in the Human Services Department on the Fond du Lac Reservation, he has one for his personal life as well.

“Being an introvert, I do a lot of self-reflecting,” he explained.

He participated in two leadership programs in the past two years ­ one with the Emerging Leaders Network through the Minnesota Department of Health and one through the Blandin Foundation, where he was able to fine-tune those statements.

Want to Know More?

The following is a list of additional resources on the topic of building social capital recommended by the Community Leader Editorial Team:

Leadership News and Notes

From the Spring, 2009 issue (Vol. 8 No. 1) of the Community Leader newsletter:

‘Leadership News and Notes’ is a regular feature of Community Leader celebrating the accomplishments and endeavors of Blandin Foundation Leadership Program alumni as well as the communities which have been served by its programs.  This issue features Wendy Johnson and Lisa Baumann.

The Pine Journal of Cloquet was the first place winner of the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s (MNA) Lynn Smith Community Leadership Award in January 2009 at the MNA’s Annual Conference in Minneapolis.

Blandin Foundation Accepts Grant from Bush Foundation

Leadership Programs Supported

The Blandin Foundation accepted a $425,832 grant from the Bush Foundation to extend the work of the Blandin Community Leadership Program. The grant will enable BCLP to offer four additional community cohorts, training 100 individual leaders, in 2009.

Leadership Toolbox: Tackling Tough Community Issues

A tough community issue is one that doesn’t yield to the usual leadership approaches and has a significant impact on the health of the community. As community leaders you have dealt with or are currently working on a tough community issue. There are three key characteristics of tough community issues:  greater complexity, longer term efforts, and higher risk. It has been said that tackling tough community issues are more about asking good questions than having the answers. Therefore, the following questions are meant to assist you in working through tough community issues.

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