Maine Community Foundation’s survey shows steady tolerance in Twin Cities.

Last month’s high-profile incident in which a pig’s head was thrown into a Lewiston mosque raises important questions about the current state of relationships in Lewiston- Auburn.

Was this act indicative of a growing undercurrent of distrust within the community?

As a community diversifies is eroding trust inevitable?

Recent surveys conducted by the Maine Community Foundation indicate otherwise.

If community is defined by the sum of its parts, the parts are people and their relationships, which foster trust, engender civic engagement and promote opportunity. Social scientists have coined the term “social capital” to capture this idea.

A key consideration in the development of social capital is not only how strong our relationships are among people we know, but how strong our relationships may be among people with whom we have less in common.

Earlier this year, the Maine Community Foundation funded a survey of social capital in Lewiston-Auburn. The survey looked at 11 different dimensions of social capital, including social and interracial trust, civic engagement, charitable giving and volunteerism. When the foundation conducted a similar survey in 2000, the L-A sample ranked higher than the national average on an index of “general social trust,” with particularly positive responses on questions of interracial trust.

Preliminary analysis of the 2006 survey suggests that levels of trust have held steady since 2000. In addition, the percentage of Lewiston-Auburn residents indicating that they have friends of a different ethnicity has increased significantly.

While we don’t yet have the data to determine how these findings relate to national trends, it appears that recent events are not indicative of growing distrust within the community. This is particularly significant since more diverse communities in other states that participated in the 2000 survey tended to have lower levels of trust both within the same racial group and between different racial groups.

In addition to the community-wide survey, the Maine Community Foundation conducted face-to-face interviews with Somali-born residents in L-A. While there are limits to comparing these two surveys directly, there are a few observations worth noting.

With regard to general social trust, the Somalis tended to mirror the larger population. One area in which they differed related to trust for the police: 80 percent of Somali respondents indicated they trusted the police “a lot” versus 60 percent of the general population. Somali residents also tended to rate Lewiston-Auburn more highly as a place to live, with 90 percent rating it “good” or “excellent,” versus 82 percent of the general population.

The foundation also asked Somali respondents to rank the most pressing needs facing their community. “To build Somali leadership” received the highest ranking followed by the need to improve educational opportunities and access to English language classes, improve access to employment and bridge the culture gap.

Among the needs that did not receive high priority were improving transportation services, access to social services and communication with city hall.

When asked to identify the most significant obstacles to employment, the Somalis identified the “lack of relevant skills or work experience” number one. This was followed by: language barriers, lack of jobs and lack of information about job availability or employer needs. These responses suggest that Somali residents recognize their own accountability in the challenges they face.

The Maine Community Foundation’s challenge will be to translate the Lewiston-Auburn survey results into action. We will continue to work with local advisors to complete the analysis and identify appropriate next steps. Despite recent events, these initial findings suggest that levels of trust remain high and provide a foundation for future action.

As Lewiston-Auburn – and Maine – become increasingly diverse, continuing to strengthen relationships among different groups of people will grow in importance. Harnessing those relationships to support greater civic engagement and improved prosperity for all are among the most important challenges we face.

Henry Schmelzer is president of the Maine Community Foundation in Ellsworth. Garrett Martin is the foundation’s director of program strategy.