Rebuilding trust in our local communities
Social trust focuses on “the moral quality of a society,” considering whether its members “keep their promises and work for the common good.” When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, international research revealed a significant global pattern — that a country’s level of trust coincides closely to its infection rate. If distrust is widespread, then government officials and other authorities dealing with the contagious virus were hard-pressed to convince the public of the necessity for protection.
Let’s consider the recent role of social trust in national events.
Modern developments
Survey data indicate that the majority of Americans believe that for decades trust in the federal government and in each other has steadily declined. Keeping in mind that trend and the results of the international study previously cited, we shouldn’t find the following information surprising. Among wealthy countries, the U.S. has had the highest COVID death rate, leading its affluent peers in the proportion of its population unvaccinated and, in particular, in the percentage of unvaccinated for the most vulnerable age group, those 65 and older.
A cause-and-effect interplay occurs here, with COVID’s deadly growth increasing distrust. Nowadays the majority of adults don’t trust people they meet. Understandably, Black people and lowincome individuals are the groups most often distrusting others.
Along with the pandemic, other major events have contributed to Americans’ deepening distrust. In particular, George Floyd’s horrifying murder went viral in May 2020, and several weeks later Gallup reported that pride in the nation was the lowest since surveys began assessing it nearly 20 years earlier.
Distancing themselves from the federal government and most prominent organizations, some American activists have nurtured a renewed sense of trust focusing on local initiatives. I offer a promising case in point.
The potential for decentralized pluralism
Houston, Texas, a city which displays “the country’s shifting demographic, cultural and linguistic landscape,” has developed a number of flourishing communities. Residents speak 145 languages, with over 40 percent of children having at least one foreign-born parent, nearly twice the U.S. average. By 2050, 85 percent of Houston’s population will be Latino, Black or Asian and just 15 percent white.
When driving through the city, journalist David Brooks said “you feel like you’re successively in Lagos, Hanoi, Mumbai, White
Plains, Beverly Hills, Des Moines and Mexico City. In each of these cultural … islands of trust, there is a sense of vibrant activity and experimentation.” Brooks called this configuration “decentralized pluralism,” and he suggested that the social trust that produces it “buil[ds] within the nitty-gritty of organizational life: going to meetings, driving people places, planning events, sitting with the ailing, rejoicing with the joyous, showing up for the unfortunate.” One local program has contributed substantially to this movement.
Appreciative Community Building is the brainchild of BakerRipley, an organization emphasizing the powerful idea that when a district effectively incorporates residents’ diverse contributions, both individuals and the locale itself benefit.
To achieve this outcome, community developers indicate that they engage in one-on-one interviews, gathering data from such diverse sources as “longtime residents, newcomers, business owners, elected leaders, faith-based leaders and educators . ... Together we uncover skills, talents and aspirations … [and] what they value most, what they envision for the future and how that vision can be realized.” Follow-up interviews in focus groups “confirm and refine” staff members’ findings. Then they write up a report, opening discussion about it in a large public meeting and providing detail about putting their plans into action.
BakerRipley’s personnel is committed and well-organized, but as a visitor’s commentary suggests, there’s something special about the tone Appreciative Community Building has created. A prominent Dutch activist came to Houston for an international meeting about developing community organizations. She lived in a country renowned for its trusted government and diverse groups’ consistently cooperative activities. To her delight, “From the first moment I stepped out of the car, it felt like coming home.” She added, “Walking around, I could see, hear and feel the warm welcome the center creates … I could hear children playing, laughing, women dancing, exciting conversations everywhere and staff talking in an appreciative way.”
Her praise kept flowing — this sophisticated observer elated to discover that decentralized pluralism sometimes flourishes in the U.S. I, too, am excited, anticipating that such successful ventures might prompt Americans to recognize that expanding, vibrant community efforts could proliferate into a massive, nationally shared democratic upsurge.