Social Capital: Creating Connections to Foster Community Innovation

Authors

  • Sonja Miokovic Consulting Director, Community Innovation, Tamarack Institute
  • Heather Keam Associate Director, Deepening Community, Tamarack Institute

Keywords:

social capital, social innovation, community innovation, community development, ABCD, Tamarack

Abstract

Social capital refers to the networks, relationships, and norms that facilitate cooperation and coordination among individuals and groups within a community. When it comes to community innovation, social capital can play a critical role in fostering creativity, knowledge sharing, and collaboration among community members.

Author Biographies

Sonja Miokovic, Consulting Director, Community Innovation, Tamarack Institute

Sonja Miokovic is the Consulting Director of the Tamarack Institute Community Innovation Area. She is a dynamic educator, social scientist, and innovator with over 16 years of experience in the sector. Having lived, worked, and played in over 80 countries, she has a broad spectrum of international experience that cuts across the public, private and civil society sectors. 
 
Sonja is a long-standing advocate for community-led innovation and development. Known for bringing larger-than-life initiatives into being, Sonja thrives on building meaningful relationships and connecting the dots in innovative ways. 
 
Before joining Tamarack, Sonja's led several high-impact social initiatives. She’s the co-founder of YouthfulCities, a global initiative that released the world’s first index ranking cities from a youth perspective. Over the course of her tenure there she led the growth and development of the initiative from its infancy to successful expansion to 55 global cities. 

Heather Keam, Associate Director, Deepening Community, Tamarack Institute

Heather Keam is happy to be part of the Vibrant Communities team as the Associate Director for Cities Deepening Community practice. Before this position she was a Manager in the Learning Centre where she organized Community of Practices, learning opportunities, tools and resources for community change.  Heather brings over 12 years of public health knowledge to this position and 16 years of experience generating action at a grassroots level using ABCD and Collective Impact.  

Heather is a lifelong learner and has just recently got her certificate in Knowledge Mobilization from the University of Guelph.  She has a bachelor's degree in health studies from Brock University, a Graduate diploma in Nutritional Science from Canberra University, Australia, a Graduate Diploma in Health Promotion from Canadore College 

Heather loves guiding groups through the community development process of planning, engagement, implementation, and sustainability of local community efforts. 

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Published

2023-03-22

How to Cite

Miokovic, S., & Keam, H. (2023). Social Capital: Creating Connections to Foster Community Innovation. Social Innovations Journal, 17. Retrieved from https://socialinnovationsjournal.com/index.php/sij/article/view/5593

Issue

Section

Applying Social and Community Innovation in Place

Categories