Date: Sunday, July 27, 2025
We are Kien Lee and David Chavis, two community change practitioners and evaluators who founded Community Science, an organization trust by philanthropy, government, nonprofits, and grassroots organizations for solutions that rebuild community, strengthen social ties, and address systemic challenges by fostering meaningful connections. We’re deeply concerned about increasing polarization, rising loneliness, and the questions many of us are asking: What does it really mean to be part of a community today? More importantly, how can we rebuild communities to be stronger, healthier, and more equitable? We are here to share an approach to strengthening community.
Community is about relationships among people. It’s the sense of trust, safety, and shared purpose that people feel when they’re connected to others. Research shows that people who feel part of a strong community experience better health, deeper social support, and greater overall well-being. Strength of community can serve as a strategy, a contextual variable, and an intended outcome in place-based initiatives.
Strengthening community requires fostering bonds within groups and also expanding the boundaries and relations of communities to be more inclusive of other groups across geography and racial, class, and other differences, that is, bridging. As more people see themselves as part of a larger, connected whole and develop a strong sense of community, they are more likely to act collectively, support each other, build connections, and improve local conditions. This includes linking to and transforming systems to meet shared needs, as illustrated in the diagram.
Measuring community strength demands multiple tools and methods. No single tool can capture the full picture—so using mixed methods is essential.
A widely used tool is the Sense of Community Index 2 (SCI-2) (see www.senseofcommunity.com). It measures membership, influence, needs fulfillment, and emotional connection.
Beyond the SCI-2, several methods offer valuable insights into how communities function and feel:
Findings from these methods can inform strategic action for community leaders, practitioners, and funders. They can help answer:
When strengthening and measuring community, keep the following in mind:
Strengthening and measuring community requires perseverance, investment, and deep commitment. When done with care and intentionality, these efforts can lead to healthier, more equitable (less divided), and more resilient communities for all.
AEA is hosting CD TIG Week with our colleagues in the Community DevelopmentTopical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from our CD TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.