Why This Project is Needed

Social Capital and Mosaic Partnerships

Mosaic Partnerships Outcomes

Other Applications of Mosaic Partnerships

Why This Project is Needed
At root, we are struggling with eroding social capital. Social capital is the invisible web of human relationships (rooted in trust and mutual cooperation) that makes communities function effectively and creates the foundation needed to bring about their potential for prosperity. Recent research on social capital in the U.S. shows that over the past few decades, we have become increasingly disconnected from each other—living a more isolated and siloed existence. If this current condition persists, particularly across race and ethnicity, it will result in further polarization, conflict, and social and economic stagnation.

Secondly, we are dealing with changing demographics. The United States is undergoing a significant shift in its population. The “minority” population is steadily increasing and by 2050 it is projected to become the majority population. In many of our major metropolitan communities this shift has already occurred. Increasing diversity creates many challenges for a community, such as developing or maintaining social cohesiveness, and encouraging mutual cooperation and collaboration.

There has been an explosion of diversity across the U.S. in recent years. In 49 out of the 50 states minority groups make up an increasing share of the population. Despite this flood of diversity, recent research indicates that the United States is currently suffering from the greatest segregation between the races in the past century. This separation has a devastating impact on society and perpetuates itself by the misunderstandings and fear that it breeds. As a result, we are suffering from the social and economic ills born from a society wracked with disunity. We are a truly multi-racial society, and if we are to thrive as a community we need ways to form trusting relationships to build a new social structure and economy that benefits all citizens.

Eroding social capital and changing demographics, in combination with a widening racial inequity, presents a particular challenge because social capital is strongest among people of similar backgrounds and weakest among people of different backgrounds. (See Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone) This is the strategic center of Mosaic Partnerships. The Mosaic Program builds social capital across difference, two people at a time.

Social Capital and Mosaic Partnerships
The Mosaic Program assists communities in leveraging its diversity by increasing inter-connectedness, communication, collaboration, and understanding. The strengthening of these relationships starts a community on the path to building social capital.

A wide variety of specific social and economic benefits flow from the trust, reciprocity, information, and cooperation associated with cohesive social networks. Research indicates that social capital, like financial capital and human capital, has a significant impact on the functioning and productivity of organizations and communities. There is a direct correlation between levels of social capital and several social and economic conditions of a community. (See Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone) For example, communities with high social capital enjoy:

• greater academic achievement
• healthier children (physically and psychologically)
• poverty alleviation
• reduced levels of crime
• faster growing economies
• more efficient governmental institutions
• healthier and happier citizens

Social Capital and Economic Prosperity:
Communities with high social capital are more economically efficient as they experience reduced transaction costs and a flow of information that facilitates the creation and fulfillment of opportunities. Harvard University Professor Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, states that social capital acts to lubricate the economic life of a community. In Social Capital: The Missing Link?, The World Bank states that “social capital is the glue that holds societies together and without which there can be no economic growth or human well-being.” Taking this a step further, Francis Fukuyama, author of Trust, says that economies whose citizens have high social capital will dominate the 21st century.

Mosaic Program’s Impact on Social Capital Development:
To build social capital requires that we transcend our social and professional identities to connect with people unlike ourselves. This is the essence of Mosaic Partnerships—to build social capital within diversity. The Mosaic Process encourages and assists the participants to extend beyond their comfort zone and connect with other members of the community who they would not normally have the opportunity to get to know below the surface. This process not only results in the personal development of the participants but has deep and far reaching effects on the future of a community.

Bridging the current gap in our social networks is critical in our rapidly diversifying communities. To draw strength from our diversity we must engage in collective action, leveraging the talents and skills that each possess. An inclusive collective action depends upon the integration of social networks. The communities that achieve a high level of social cohesion will be well-positioned as the world transitions into a global community.

The importance of the Mosaic Program’s ability to create interchange between social networks can not be overstated. The connection across networks creates the “weak tie” relationships that are crucial to the social and economic development of a community. (“Weak ties” refer to relationships that are more distant; whereas strong ties are those which one has with people with a sociological niche similar to their own, e.g., relatives and intimate friends.) While strong ties have their benefit in a community, in that they under-gird solidarity, it is the weak ties that are the key mechanism for mobilizing resources, ideas, and information, whether for finding or filling a job, solving a problem, responding to a crisis, launching a new product, locating a service, establishing a new enterprise, etc. Weak ties are also crucial to the creative environment of a community because they allow for rapid entry of new people and absorption of new ideas.

The ability of the Mosaic Process to bridge diverse networks of people within a community and thereby proliferates weak tie relationships, particularly across race and ethnicity, ultimately leads to the prosperity of the community as a whole.

Mosaic Partnerships Outcomes
We have found that the Program builds relationships, fosters informal social interaction, deepens the level of trust, increases the inter-connectedness of personal and professional networks, and results in expanded participation of the partners in community improvement activities and volunteerism. (See Appendix: Program Expectations)

Some Measured Outcomes: Taken from the most recent Mosaic Partnerships implementation (See Appendix: Greensboro Data Measurement Booklet)

• ninety-one percent (91%) of the participants believe that they will continue their relationship with their Mosaic partner after completion of the Program
• Mosaic participants reached a level of trust with their Mosaic partner that is eighty-nine percent (89%) of the level of trust that their Mosaic partner has with his/her four closest friends
• sixty percent (60%) of the Mosaic participants shared their professional networks with their Mosaic partner
• sixty-five percent (65%) shared their networks of friends
• fifty-five percent (55%) shared their families

Some Tangible Outcomes: The impact of Mosaic Partnerships extends beyond personal relationships. A number of participants’ eyes have been opened to dimensions of the community they never saw before. This “a-ha” experience generates creative life-giving motivation to collaboratively address the challenges in our cities. We will be studying and measuring these “ripple effects” for years to come. Examples are detailed below. (See Appendix: DVD of videos in the back cover of the Some Answered Questions Booklet. The first video was completed after Phase I in the Rochester Mosaic Program. It contains interviews of several sets of Mosaic partners regarding their experience in the Program and the development of their relationships. The second video entitled “Ripple Effect” was produced two years later and re-interviews those same sets of Mosaic partners. The videos were produced by an ABC affiliate in Rochester.)

Examples of Some Rochester Ripple Effects
"Partnerships in Pluralism" Program Implemented at Rochester Institute of Technology

Mosaic Partnerships Extended to Neighborhoods and Schools

Wegmans Food Markets

Brenda Lee and Sandra Frankel

Other Applications of Mosaic Partnerships
Because Mosaic Partnerships focuses on the most fundamental aspect of community building, i.e., relationships, it creates impact in a wide variety of settings. The following are some examples of sub-programs that can be incorporated into the broader Mosaic Program or implemented independently. These programs provide a broader reach into the community.

High Schools
The high school program pairs students from high schools predominated by people of color with students from predominantly White/Caucasian high schools. A high school version of the Mosaic Program was implemented for the first time this year. The Maplewood neighborhood of Rochester utilized Mosaic Partnerships to bridge two high schools.

Universities
Several universities in Rochester and Greensboro have expressed interest in creating cross-campus pairings that would improve race relations and raise awareness among faculty and students. Dr. Al Simone, President of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), instituted the Mosaic Process at RIT for faculty, staff, and students.

Police Departments
The police program pairs influencers in the police department with neighborhood leaders, or pairs police personnel internally. The Rochester Police Department and the San Jose Police Department have both expressed interest in a Mosaic Police Program.

Social and Economic Class & Healthcare
Over the summer, a consultant from Chile spent two weeks in our offices for the purpose of exploring how Mosaic Partnerships can be applied to bridging social and economic classes and also how it can create social capital within healthcare systems. He is currently in conversation with four cities in Chile regarding Mosaic Partnerships.

Arts
We are currently in conversation with the arts community in Rochester, NY regarding building stronger relationships across race/ethnicity among artists and between the arts community and the community at large.

These examples demonstrate niche applications of Mosaic Partnerships within the larger thrust of the Program. As niche applications emerge they are incorporated into the larger architecture of the Program.