Local arm of national survey sees lack of civic engagement

The Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey found that community connectedness there is weak compared with the business and technology networks that attract ever more workers.

"Despite the tremendous wealth amassed here in the past decade, the survey shows that residents give less of their time and resources to the community," said Debbie Ford-Scriba of the Peninsula Community Foundation.

Her group, along with the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley and Santa Clara University, sponsored the local survey.

On the up side, she noted that overall social and interracial trust in the Valley is higher than in many other places across the nation and people tend to have more diverse friendships. Some 47 percent of survey respondents said they have gay friends, while nationally only 35 percent did.

In San Francisco, where the Walter and Elise Haas Fund sponsored a survey of 500 residents, results showed a social picture that is more diverse and younger than the national average, with a much greater likelihood of people having lived in the area less than five years.

Yet San Franciscans rated higher than average in their level of political activity and interest and were more likely to report they felt a sense of community in their city.<