Achieving Equitable and Effective Community Engagement through Social and Relational Network Analysis
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Achieving Equitable and Effective Community Engagement through Social and Relational Network Analysis
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2024-05-01
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Through the Humphrey School of Public Affairs capstone program, a student-consultant team of four graduate students worked with their capstone client, the City of Minnetonka, to better understand social networks within the City of Minnetonka and the impacts social networks may have on equitable community engagement. The City of Minnetonka is situated in Hennepin County and has a population of approximately 54,000 (Metropolitan Council, n.d.). Community inclusiveness is a strategic priority of the City of Minnetonka, which includes actively engaging the community to achieve broader policy outcomes, respond to community needs, and remove barriers for participating in programs and services. City staff proposed that, through a better understanding of social and relational networks within the city and between the city and community, the city can develop more effective and equitable public engagement and work towards achieving community inclusiveness.
The team focused on understanding the social networks of City of Minnetonka staff and the nature of relationships between city staff and community members. This was informed by background research on social networks, social network analysis, and equitable engagement. Social networks are composed of network members, which can be people or organizations, that are connected to other members through one or more relations (Marin & Wellman, 2009). Through social network analysis, which is the visualization and analysis of network members and their relations, this project sought to bring greater understanding of the social networks among city staff and between city staff and community members.
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