Social Capital and Community Well-being ― The Serve Here Initiative

This book provides a comprehensive overview of how communities can leverage their social capital to improve overall quality of life for citizens. In addition, it offers detailed guidance on the design, implementation, and evaluation of social capital initiatives. It defines critical concepts of social capital, its decline in recent years, and the potential for rebuilding it through progressive social policy initiatives. Chapters present an innovative social policy template, Serve Here, for improving Americans’ collective quality of life, starting with young adults. Serve Here sets out a comprehensive, sustainable service learning plan aimed at increasing quality higher education for young adults, reducing college debt, and enhancing long-term civic participation and community building. The book offer guidelines for developing tailored solutions to ensure greater parity of social capital to regional, demographic, and other marginalized populations.

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Social Capital and Community Well-Being: The Serve Here Initiative is a valuable resource for clinicians and practitioners as well as researchers and graduate students in community psychology, social work, education, and healthcare policy.

Alva G. Greenberg?has a deep philanthropic commitment to the arts and to the welfare and education of children. ?She is a 1974 graduate of Kenyon College with a major in drama. She has served on the board of the College as well as the Kenyon Festival Theater, Alva started her post graduate career as the co-owner and editor of a weekly newspaper in Old Lyme, CT called "The Gazette". In 1997 she opened ALVA Gallery, a contemporary art gallery in New London, CT while simultaneously making a significant commitment to the redevelopment of downtown New London by purchasing and rehabilitating four buildings and starting a Saturday Market at the waterfront.?

She has served on many community boards including the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, The Garde Arts Center, Inc., the Pequot Foundation and the Florence Griswold Museum. She currently sits on the board of the Child and Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut, Read to Grow and the Gund Art Gallery at Kenyon College.

Thomas Gullotta (Tom) is Serve Here Connecticut’s Chief Advisor. Prior to this appointment he was the Chief Executive Officer of Child and Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut retiring in 2015 and a member of the Psychology and Education Departments at Eastern Connecticut State University retiring in 2014. His scholarship encompasses the co-authorship of two college textbooks, the founding editorship of The Journal of Primary Prevention (Kluwer/Academic 1980 - 2000), co-editor, Advances in Adolescent Development: An Annual Book Series (Sage 1985 - 2000), editor, Prevention in Practice Library: A Monograph Series (Plenum, 1996 - 2001), and senior editor, Issues in Children’s' and Families' Lives: A Book Series (Springer 1990 - present).?

In addition to authoring nearly 100 chapters, papers or reviews, he has co-edited or authored over thirty volumes devoted to illness prevention / promotion of health for the treatment of children, adolescents, and families. Tom was the senior editor for the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Primary Prevention and Health Promotion (Kluwer / Academic, 2003) and returned to that same role for the four volume second edition of that reference work published in early 2015.Currently, he is working on the second edition of the Handbook of Childhood Behavioral Issues to be published by Routledge.?

Martin Bloom is a practicing collagist who occasionally helps Tom Gullotta with editing encyclopedia tasks, and engaged in other writing projects as befits a retired gentleman social psychologist. ?He is also a full-time househusband for his wife of 56 years.