4 Access to Social Capital and Social Opportunities

Prior research has demonstrated that people rate their physical and mental health higher if they feel a sense of belonging and connectedness to others in their area.19 The DRVS includes several questions gauging whether Detroit-area residents have the sense that they are part of a caring community with opportunities for social interaction, another area significantly related to their overall life evaluations.

Overall, 34% of Detroit city residents agree that Detroiters care about each other. While this figure sits at about one-third among Black and Hispanic residents, it rises to 51% among White residents (Chart 12). The results are very similar when city residents are asked whether people in their community care about each other.

19 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7585135/

CHART 12

On a five-point scale, where 5 is strongly agree and 1 is strongly disagree, please rate your level of agreement with the following items. % Agree or strongly agree, among Detroit city residents

About one-third of city residents (36%) rate it easy to access social community events, such as festivals, picnics, parades and street fairs, with White city residents (49%) more likely than Black (34%) or Hispanic (36%) city residents to respond this way.

However, Black Detroiters who feel such events are easy to access are much more likely than those who do not to say people in their community care about each other (59% versus 19%, respectively) — suggesting efforts to facilitate public social gatherings may help foster people’s sense of community connectedness (Chart 13).

CHART 13

Percentage of Black Detroit city residents who agree or strongly agree that people in their community care about each other

Importantly, though most Detroiters are not optimistic about social cohesion in their neighborhood, most do feel they have social networks they can rely on. About two-thirds (68%) say they have relatives or friends they can count on in times of trouble, close to the 72% of Americans overall who say the same. Black Detroiters are only somewhat less likely to say this than White Detroiters, at 68% versus 75%, though Hispanic Detroiters are least likely to respond this way, at 62%.