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Social Capital |
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| Michelle Deniz Drouse | mdrouse5@yahoo.com | |
What do you envision when you hear the word “sustainability”? You might think about tree hugging. You might think about devastation resulting after Hurricane Katrina and the recent earthquake in China. You might think about good job opportunities. You might think about compact fluorescent light bulbs. You might think about recycling. You might not know what it means at all except that everyone is talking about being “green” all the time.
Sustainability relates to all of those things, but the most widely-used definition is balancing environmental, economic and social equity elements in our communities. You likely understand the environmental elements. We are bombarded with reminders to turn off the water while you brush your teeth, recycle the water bottle you just used, and to walk to the grocery store instead of driving. We are also inundated with discussions about the economy and the serious issues that we face with layoffs, cutbacks, downsizing, real estate devaluation, and rising prices at the pump. But, what do we really know about “social equity”? How do we achieve it? How do we improve it? Is it important?
Sustainability’s “social equity” is hard to define. Personally, I view it as a mechanism to improve quality of life by enhancing and highlighting “social capital.” “Social capital” includes things like community organizations, multiculturalism, interfaith organizations, languages, education, and civic engagement. “Social capital” encourages equal access in the community. It addresses common needs. It considers diverse interests in a fair manner. It leads to “social equity.”
Shaping the built environment, mentoring women leaders, and learning about my own heritage and other cultures in the community, collectively have become my passion. In 2004, I was a founder of the Orange County Turkish American Association (www.octaa.org) and subsequently served as the Chairman of the Board for three years. In addition to providing cultural programming for Turkish Americans in Orange County, we also dedicated our time to education and outreach in the community. Participating in events such as the Irvine Global Village Festival, screening Turkish films for the Irvine Multicultural Association, and performing Middle Eastern dance and music has exposed me to a rich multicultural community in Orange County.
Unfortunately, space is always a challenge. Multicultural activities are usually initiated by the non-profit community and spaces need to be affordable and accessible. In response to this need, I became involved in is a grass-roots community organization called the Orange County Multicultural Coalition. This group consists of multicultural organizations and individuals dedicated to supporting the development of a Multicultural Center at the future Orange County Great Park. This master planned metropolitan park encompasses approximately 1,300 acres at the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in Irvine, California.
Sustainability is the cornerstone of this future public space and it includes a variety of elements from a sports park to a wildlife corridor that offer social, recreational, and ecological conservation opportunities to the community. People often focus on the environmental and economic elements of the sustainability definition, but how can we enhance the social equity component? As a member of the multicultural community and as a planner by profession, I view the Orange County Great Park as a unique opportunity to highlight social equity in the context of a sustainable, physical space. Whether this space becomes one building, a series of buildings, structures, and/or gardens, developing a Multicultural Center could represent social equity efforts in the context of sustainability.
The Multicultural Center could enhance social capital to work towards social equity. It could encourage equal access. It could address common needs in the community. It could consider diverse interests in a fair manner. “Could” is the operative word, and we need to continue encouraging its development and other spaces like it in our communities.
This brings me back to turşu from my first article “Making Turşu.” Whether you think about our community as a melting pot, salad bowl, or something else entirely, you have a role here. Your work as a parent, interfaith supporter, friend, entrepreneur, world traveler, and/or legislator, can contribute to a more sustainable community, especially if you focus on augmenting your social capital.
Making turşu is not easy. They take time and energy to make, they look and taste very different from a cucumber, and not everyone likes them in salad. But, I think turºu makes our community salad delicious and pull together the ingredients by highlighting their differences.
Go ahead; make your own turºu and add it to your community salad. I bet someone will enjoy it.
I welcome comments. Contact me at mdrouse5@yahoo.com.
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* Very good
www.baharimsin.com
* yazinizi begendim tşkler..
ahmet
* ne söylediğinizi anlamıyorum ama güzel konulardır fakat ben istanbuld yaşyorum ve maddi sorunlarım var kamudayım ne olur bana yardım edin ailem ve bne zordayız ne olur yardım ne olur araştırıldığında görülecektir duygu sömürüsü yapmadığım nlaşılacaktır saygılarımla
eRGUN kirlikovali
* TURKISH-AMERICANS CAN PLAY A BIG ROLE IN ENHANCING THE “SOCIAL CAPITAL”
I enjoyed reading your article thoroughly. I believe we, the Turkish-Americans, have a lot to contribute to the “social capital.” Turkey is a place where many civilizations over many centuries have created perhaps the most unique “layered cake”, archeologically and culturally speaking. Turkey is incredibly rich in folk songs, folk dances, proverbs, games, legends, and more.
More specifically, I have been a member of the folk dance ensemble at Bogazici University , Istanbul, Turkey (1970-1973.) We have represented Turkey in many international folk dance festivals in Europe, almost always bringing home first place trophies: Billingham, Scunthorpe, Newcastle, London (UK), Paris, Lyon (France), Deventer, Almelo (Holland), almost every major city in Germany (some 30 cities in all), Ohrid (Albania), Barcelona (Spain,) among many other places. I always thought why don’t we bring those exhilarating dances, magnetic music, and colorful costumes here? For Turkish-Americans, it would be the next best thing to actually visiting Turkey. And for Americans, it would be spell-binding like few have experienced before.
If proper volunteer organization can created, members of our community could bring original costumes from Turkey (as some special materials are not available here in the U.S.) in bits and pieces in their suitcases every time they visit Turkey. There would be an annual master program with weekly training sessions, quarterly performances, and annual festivals. There would be dances from many regions of Turkey. For those of you who may not realize just how rich Turkey is in folk dances, it suffices to point out that Turkey offers a different set of dances, costumes, and music every 40 miles traveled within Turkey. That translates into thousands of dances which is why they call Turkey “Land of thousand dances.”
Having said this, I will not be surprised if I get comments like “Since you seem to know too much, why don’t you start it?” Let it be known that I don’t mind putting my money where my mouth is, but I already have too much on my plate.
I know there is a new generation of Turkish-Americans out there who could start a Turkish Folk Dance Ensemble. I can help them in other ways. This message is an invitation to those fence-sitters amongst us to come out and provide the first spark. The rest will come, I am sure.
We can truly be a big asset in the “social capital” of not only Irvine, but also Orange County, and indeed, Southern California.
Food for thought…
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