Leveraging the Community Assets to Support Military Families

ERIN CARLSON RIVERA: [00:00:00] Welcome to Practicing Connection. I’m Erin, and today we’re diving into an episode about leveraging community assets as part of our From the Archive series. In this series, we’re updating and re-releasing retired content that we feel is still relevant today. This episode is specifically about the Community Capital’s framework or how to get connected with the assets that already exist in your community.

We talk a lot on this podcast about the importance of collaborating with others in your community, but if you’re finding yourself overwhelmed or with limited capacity, this framework and practice are a great way to get started. You don’t have to make everything happen all by yourself.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Today, we’ll be talking about using a tool from Community Development, the Community Capitals Framework, to inform your work with military families. Later on, we’ll share a practice to help you utilize the community capitals.

Hi, Bob. How are you? [00:01:00]

BOB BERTSCH: I’m doing well. Thanks, Jessica. It’s good to be with you. I’m excited to talk about Community Capital’s framework. It’s been something that has been part of community development for a long time. It’s a great framework for taking that asset-based approach, which we often talk about strengths-based or asset-based approaches to development.

I recently read a book that actually draws a lot from asset-based community development and applies that to the concept of agile leadership. The book is called Strategic Doing, and the authors take concepts like identifying assets and linking and leveraging assets along with ideas from the agile method of project management, if you’re familiar with that.

And then they frame those as leadership skills that can help us navigate complex challenges by strengthening our shared skills for collaboration. It’s really interesting. There’s a lot of crossover with our work on the Practise and Connection Initiative, so it’s been validating a little bit. [00:02:00]

And it also surfaced, some different skills and strategies that we might wanna bring to our work. And when I say that, our work as the Practice and Connection producers and team, but also our work as military family service providers, really great book and really enjoyed it.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: I did dig back into that.

I read that book a while ago and enjoyed learning about the concepts, but, hearing you describe it the way you’re describing it, makes me think I should take another look and maybe, feature some of the practises here and there, on the podcast maybe. I’ve actually been digging into a book myself.

I, lately, I think I’ve been talking a lot about a lot of yard work on this podcast and television shows. I’ve been digging into Adrian Marie Brown’s book, Holding Change. Right now, I’m reading a part about fractal facilitation. I’m a facilitator and love facilitating. She talks about [00:03:00] how most group changes happen in small ways.

So we’ve talked about this before about change happening in fractals. And what she says is that every practice, ritual, and action a group takes is, as she puts it, a small-scale way to grow or shrink its own realisation of its espoused mission and values. An interesting part of this for me is that what you might think of as a baby step or a small scale change might actually feel like it’s a huge change to someone else.

So if I think something’s really small, you might be like, “What are you talking about, Jessica?” That’s way too scary. That’s way too huge of a change. And it doesn’t surprise me and I feel like it’s something that some of us maybe intuitively know and yet we gloss by that a lot. And so it was a really good reminder to remember to do some perspective taking when it comes to group work.

BOB BERTSCH: That sounds awesome. I haven’t read Holding Change yet. I’m [00:04:00] looking forward to doing that. I’m a big Adrian Marie Brown fan. Thank you for this great recommendation and insight into holding change.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: All right, Bob, let’s dig into this. The Community Capital’s framework is what we’re here to discuss today. It was developed by Jan and Cornelia Flora, two well-known names in our world, the community development and organising world. It’s a systems approach to understanding and fostering community development.

The framework identifies seven key types of capital that contribute to the health and resilience of communities. These capitals include natural, cultural, human, social, political, financial, and built capital. You could think of it this way. Families face different challenges, and of course, military families face some [00:05:00] unique challenges, which can be difficult to tackle alone, but what if we could tap into the strengths of the entire community to address those challenges?

That’s what the community capitals framework can help us do. So today, we’re gonna explore each capital and how you can use this framework to think strategically about collaboration and resource utilisation.

BOB BERTSCH: So let’s start with social capital and that is the connections and relationships within a community.

That’s what social capital is. For military families, building a support network is essential, as you guys know. And as a service provider, you can understand and assess the existing social capital in the community to inform that. Are there strong neighbourhood associations, local support groups, nonprofits serving military families, social clubs, or strong online groups that you know of?

By connecting families to these networks, you’re not just providing immediate support potentially, but you’re embedding them into a [00:06:00] broader community that can offer ongoing assistance. And one great example of this is the stronghold food pantry that was started by Monica Bassett at Fort Leavenworth.

We discussed this in an interview with Monica in a previous episode. The pantry not only provides essential food sources to military families, but also fosters a sense of community and belonging. Through the stronghold food pantry, Monica leveraged social capital, by creating a space where military families could connect, support each other, and build stronger community ties.

The pantry’s success wasn’t just about the food, although that was very important, but also came from strengthening the social fabric of the community and building that social capital.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Yeah. I love that example. This also makes me think of our episode with Nicola Winkle, called an ecosystem of military family support.

In this episode, Nicola emphasised how social capital was central to building an [00:07:00] interconnected ecosystem of support for military families. By fostering relationships across various organisations, military and civilian alike, this network created a web of support that addressed the diverse needs of military families, ensuring that they had access to the resources and connections they needed at every stage of their journey.

I’ll roll right into financial capital and political capital. Many families face financial challenges, but resources can be scattered across different organisations. Who else in your community cares about providing access to financial resources? For example, are there any existing coalitions working to influence policy and streamline access to financial support for families?

Which leaders can you connect with? In our episode about establishing a transitional early education programme for families at Malmstrom Air Force Base, we saw how financial and political capital played a role. The base worked closely with the local education providers at the Great Falls [00:08:00] Public School District and community leaders to improve access to quality early childhood education for military families.

This collaboration didn’t just provide immediate educational benefits, it also strengthened the overall wellbeing of the community by investing in the future of its youngest members.

BOB BERTSCH: So the next two capitals are human and cultural and they’re closely linked. Human capital refers to the skills, knowledge, and health of individuals and cultural capital encompasses the shared values, traditions, and practices within a community.

When you collaborate with educational institutions, healthcare providers, and cultural organisations, you’re tapping into both human and cultural capital. Again, in the example of the Momstrom Air Force Base, it illustrates this by partnering with local schools and early childhood programmes. The base not only enhanced human capital by providing essential educational services, but also respected and integrated the unique [00:09:00] cultural aspects of military life, ensuring that these services were relevant and supportive of military families.

Actually, going back to the episode with Nicola Winkle, the culture of military families, their shared experiences, values, and resilience was central to that collaboration’s success in Arizona. The network of organisations that were involved recognised that military families bring unique cultural strengths such as adaptability, a strong sense of duty and deep understanding of service.

And by acknowledging and integrating those cultural aspects, the organisations were able to create services that truly resonated with military families, making the support they offered more effective and meaningful. For instance, programmes were tailored to address the frequent relocations and deployments that military families experience, ensuring that support systems were flexible and responsive to their specific needs.

So this focus on cultural capital not only made the services more [00:10:00] effective, but also strengthened the trust and engagement between military families and the service providers leading to more meaningful and lasting support.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Next, let’s talk about built capital, the infrastructure that supports daily life such as roads, houses, schools, hospitals, the fun stuff like sewer and water, and of course, internet access.

What are the needs and what are the assets in your community around the built capital? By collaborating with local governments and other community leaders, you can advocate for the creation or improvement of infrastructure that meets the needs of the families you serve, including your own. In Tampa Bay, the Chamber of Commerce brought together leaders from the military, business, government, and nonprofit sectors to address a number of quality of life issues affecting military families, including working on a project to create ferry service to MacDill Air Force Base, which would reduce [00:11:00] commute time for service members.

It’s a great example of working together to enhance the built capital of a community.

BOB BERTSCH: So finally, let’s talk about natural capital. Everyone can benefit from access to natural spaces, parks, trails, and other outdoor recreational areas.

These spaces can have big impacts on physical and mental wellbeing. Working with environmental organisations and local governments can help protect and enhance these natural assets, making them more accessible for all families. And I know that military installations have been part of that, protecting these natural assets and fostering environments and habitats for all kinds of different animals on land that is owned by the military.

There are therapeutic benefits of connecting with nature. Some healthcare providers are issuing nature prescriptions, a recommendation to spend time in nature to improve a patient’s health and wellbeing. The One Op webinar, Reconnecting With Nature, [00:12:00] Health and Wellbeing for Military Communities talks about these nature prescriptions and how military family practitioners can help their clients in accessing and experiencing the personal and community resilience enhancing attributes of the natural capital in our communities.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: All right. I think we’re ready to share the practice or just about ready, actually. I have a few notes. Before we share the practice, I think it’s important to note that one of the most powerful aspects of the community capital’s framework is its emphasis on interaction. No form of capital exists in isolation.

So for example, improving the built capital, the infrastructure of a community like better access to public transportation or broadband can directly enhance the financial and human capital by providing better access to jobs and educational resources. So I really wanna emphasise the interactivity between the different capitals and with that, [00:13:00] Bob, I’m gonna turn it over to you to walk us through the activity.

BOB BERTSCH: Yeah, I would love to do that, but as is my nature, I have to interject, And just build on what you were saying, because that’s a, it’s a great point and there is a seminal paper called Spiralling Up, that talks about the Community Capital’s framework, by Mary Emery and Cornelia Flora, who is one of the creators of the Community Capital’s framework.

And really what it shows is that just like Jessica said, investing in any capital can lead to this spiralling up. And what Mary and Neil found was that one of the capitals that has the biggest impact is social capital. And I wanna bring that up because as you’re mapping these capitals, in the practice we’re gonna talk about in a second, it stresses how important connecting with others is to build that social capital because it can help you spiral up [00:14:00] all those other capitals.

So I’m gonna leave a space here for just in case, since I just stole her thunder and took over that whole point – Just so I could mention spiralling up, which is one of my favourite research papers out there.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: I think that was perfect.

BOB BERTSCH: All right. Let’s get to practice then. So the practice is mapping the capitals.

We’ve provided a downloadable worksheet on the show notes page and it goes along with this activity. So your first step is to go out and download that worksheet. You can just go to oneop.org/podcast to find the webpage for this episode and the worksheet will be there. Then begin by conducting a simple assessment.

Keeping the families you serve in mind as you reflect on each of the capitals identify the existing capitals in the community. What resources are abundant and where are their gaps? Are there strong social networks? Is there a supportive political environment? [00:15:00] What financial resources are available? Go through each of the seven capitals and think about this.

And when you’re thinking about your community, it is your community and if you are in a community that has a military installation, for this exercise, that installation is part of the community, and might bring its own capitals and assets to the table. Once you’ve mapped these capitals, work collaboratively with other service providers, community organisations and the families themselves to develop a plan that leverages these assets.

The goal is to create that upward spiral of positive change where investments in one type of capital lead to improvements in others, ultimately creating a more resilient and supportive environment for military families. So get out there, map your capitals. It’s a great first step to really starting any project and addressing any issue you wanna address collaboratively with your community.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Yeah. I just wanna add also, as you get into activities like this, I think they [00:16:00] can feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to do all the things. Really just use this as a tool to help you think about all the different capitals that kind of contribute to community resilience and how they might impact the families you work with.

So don’t worry about having to have a hand in all of the capital improvements in the different capitals. really just use it to think, help you think through and c- make connections and, and impact, a small area.

ERIN CARLSON RIVERA: Thanks for joining us for this episode. If you enjoyed it, you may also enjoy the 2026 Military Family Readiness Academy. Every year, our host organization One Up puts on the Academy, a series of free interconnected professional development webinars and podcast episodes all focused on essential themes.

This year’s theme is building community capacity to support military family wellbeing, a central topic to practicing [00:17:00] connection.

The series opens with a session on collective competence or the idea that communities best support military families when infrastructure and resources are intentionally designed with those families in mind. Too often, as service providers, we work in silos. This series helps us understand our role in building the kind of partnerships and shared systems that actually move the needle for the families we serve.

On-demand recordings are available after each session so there’s flexibility even if you can’t join us live. If you’d like to check out the academy, you can visit

oneop.org/mfRA or click the link in our show notes.

We’ll see you next week. Until then, keep practicing.

[00:18:00]

CREDITS: The Practicing Connection Podcast is a production of One-Op and is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture and the Office of Military Family Readiness Policy, US Department of Defense under award number 2 0 2 3 4 8 7 74 3 3.