This episode of the Cultivating Connections podcast features Pedro Cruz, the Executive Director of the Office of Youth Engagement and Advancement (OYEA) for the City of Boston. Pedro shares his inspiring journey into youth work, rooted in his experiences growing up in the Boston’s Villa Victoria community. He emphasizes the importance of relationships and community spaces that shaped his path, reflecting on how early jobs at local community centers ignited his passion for youth development. Pedro highlights the significance of mentorship in his own journey, and the importance of providing Boston youth with mentors today.

Pedro provides an overview of OYEA’s pioneering efforts to engage Boston's youth aged 14 to 25 which focuses a great deal on creating partnerships with a wide range of youth serving organizations. He explains their mission to amplify young voices in local decision-making and connect them with resources and opportunities often inaccessible to them.

He also shares successes such as building a network of over 1,100 individuals from nearly 400 organizations and reviving the Mayor’s Youth Summit after a 20 year hiatus, demonstrating the demand for dedicated spaces and programs for young people. The episode concludes with Pedro discussing the upcoming Youth Needs Assessment survey, aimed at understanding what young people require during their non-school and non-work hours, further underscoring the office's commitment to serving Boston's youth effectively.

In the latest episode of the Cultivating Connections podcast, guests Jennifer Leshnower and Tony Lucero engage in an informative discussion about "bridging work” intended to bring people of diverse views and backgrounds together. The conversation centers on how national service programs like AmeriCorps can serve as platforms for building connections across diverse communities. Tony articulates that bridging involves coming together across divides to foster understanding, collaboration, and dialogue. He emphasizes that national service provides a unique opportunity to cultivate these skills, particularly in a society increasingly characterized by polarization.

Both guests share their personal journeys into national service, highlighting the transformative power of these experiences. Jen recounts her introduction to AmeriCorps during college, where she discovered the importance of service in fostering relationships among individuals from varying backgrounds. Tony shares his path from being a first-generation college graduate to becoming actively involved in community service, illustrating how mentorship and shared goals can bridge significant divides. The episode underscores the critical role of intentionality in bridging efforts and positions national service as a vital mechanism for addressing societal challenges through meaningful dialogue and connection.

Tony and Jen highlight important work being done by their organizations and others in the Bridging Divides group to bring this issue to the forefront. They also cover studies of bridging outcomes being created by national service organizations, and curriculum and other tools available for those interested in furthering this work.

This podcast episode features a deep dive into the Connective Tissue framework for increasing social connection, with its author Sam Pressler. The framework includes recommendations as to what policymakers and others can do at federal, state and local levels to increase social connections. The Connective Tissue site is organized into four major categories: 1) Foundational Changes; 2) Community Institutions; 3) Life Transitions and 4) Enabling Conditions.

During the conversation, Sam addresses the broader societal trends contributing to social disconnection. He identifies several key factors, including the decline of traditional institutions like religious organizations, civic groups, and unions, which historically provided stability and a sense of belonging. He notes that these changes disproportionately affect individuals without college degrees, who face higher barriers to civic engagement and social support. The data presented reveals alarming statistics about friendship and social networks, illustrating a growing divide in social capital based on educational attainment.

Sam explores potential policy interventions aimed at strengthening social connections. He argues that while policy alone cannot solve these issues, it can play an important role in addressing the structural challenges that lead to disconnection. He advocates for a multi-faceted approach that considers local solutions tailored to community needs, rather than relying solely on top-down policies. Throughout the conversation, host David Crowley incorporates various ways the Connective Tissue framework relates to the work of Social Capital Inc.

This episode serves as both an insightful exploration of the challenges surrounding social connection and a call to action for listeners to engage in fostering community ties in their own lives.

Guest Bio:
Sam Pressler is a Practitioner Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, a Research Affiliate at the Harvard Human Flourishing Program, and the author of Connective Tissue, a policy framework for the role of government in regenerating connection in American communities. In his past life, he founded and led the Armed Services Arts Partnership, America’s largest community arts organization serving veterans and their families.

Resource links:

Connective Tissue Framework: https://theconnectivetissue.us/framework
Subscribe to the Connective Tissue Newsletter: https://theconnectivetissue.us/newsletter
Disconnected: The Growing Class Divide in American Civic Life https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/disconnected-places-and-spaces/