Across the country, communities are facing a quiet but profound challenge. Rates of loneliness and social isolation are rising. Fewer residents are participating in civic life. Trust in institutions is fragile. While these issues often surface as concerns about engagement, public safety, or civic trust, they are symptoms of something deeper: weakened community connection.
Mayors are increasingly being asked to respond, but many lack practical tools to clearly understand where connection is strong, where it is fraying, and what local government can realistically do about it.
To help address this gap, The Telosa Foundation, in partnership with Polco, has developed the Community Connections Index, a free, practical framework designed to help cities understand, measure, and strengthen social connection in ways that lead to action.
Grounded in Telosa’s people-first mission, this work brings together an interdisciplinary team of urban practitioners, academic researchers, and professional data scientists focused on translating research into tools cities can actually use.
Invitation to Participate
Telosa and Polco are inviting a small, diverse group of cities to participate in a no-cost pilot of the Community Connections Index. Pilot cities will receive hands-on support including survey design, analysis, benchmarking, and guidance on translating results into practical community-building actions while helping shape a tool that will soon be available nationally.
Participation is intentionally flexible and aligned with local priorities, requiring minimal staff time. For mayors, it offers a rare opportunity to gain early insight into community trust and connection, demonstrate leadership on issues residents care deeply about, and contribute to a first-of-its-kind framework for strengthening social capital.
Mayors interested in exploring participation can connect by emailing at jon@cityoftelosa.com to learn more. Pilot spots are limited.
Additional Information
Why This Tool Matters Now
Many organizations have developed tools to measure aspects of social capital, trust, or civic participation. These efforts are important and have advanced the field significantly. The Community Connections Index builds on that foundation, but is designed specifically for local government decision-making.
Rather than focusing only on attitudes or networks, the Index connects community connection to what cities can actually influence such as policy choices, public spaces, service delivery, and civic infrastructure. It explicitly includes elements such as placemaking, belonging, trust, participation, and access to shared community life, helping cities see how connection is experienced in daily life, not just how it is reported.
The goal is not simply to measure connection, but to help cities act on what they learn.
What Is the Community Connections Index?
The Community Connections Index is designed to help cities move from abstract conversations about belonging and trust to clearer insight and informed action. The Index measures connection across six core domains, such as belonging, trust, civic participation, and placemaking.
Importantly, the Index is not just a set of scores. It is designed to support both quantitative and qualitative assessment, helping cities pair measurable trends with lived experience. Cities can use the Index to identify patterns across the city and explore why those patterns exist, and understand how policies, programs, and local context shape connection.
This dual approach allows leaders to ask better questions, not just track numbers.
Built for Cities With Different Levels of Capacity
Flexibility is a core principle of the Community Connections Index. Cities vary widely in staff time, resources, and readiness to take on new initiatives. The Index is designed to meet cities where they are and scale based on local interest and capacity.
Participation can range from light-touch to more intensive:
- Light-touch use: A single two-hour workshop with staff, residents, or community stakeholders.
- Moderate engagement: Workshops paired with a review of existing community indicators and broader stakeholder involvement.
- More intensive pilots: A series of workshops over several weeks, deeper qualitative work, and integration into strategic planning, budgeting, or engagement efforts.
Cities can start where they are and build over time.
What Pilot Cities Can Expect
Pilot cities receive technical assistance and learning support from the Telosa and Polco teams, including access to faculty researchers, professional analysts, and experienced practitioners.
Support may include facilitation of workshops, interpretation of findings, integration of secondary data, guidance on pairing data with community voice, and opportunities to learn alongside peer cities. The emphasis is on supporting local decision-making, not prescribing solutions.
Steps Mayors Can Take Now
Mayors interested in strengthening community connection can take a few practical steps:
- Ask how your city currently understands connection, trust, and belonging.
- Review existing resident survey or engagement data with a focus on who feels connected and who does not.
- Consider piloting the Community Connections Index to explore these issues in a structured but flexible way.
- Use insights to inform work already underway, such as neighborhood engagement, public safety strategies, or civic participation efforts.
About the Author
Jon Mallon is the CEO at the Telosa Foundation, where he works to advance people-first approaches to community development, social connection, and civic trust. At Telosa, Jon helps bridge research, practice, and policy by supporting initiatives that translate evidence on social capital, belonging, and quality of life into practical tools cities can use. His work emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, equity, and long-term systems thinking, helping local leaders move from abstract concepts to actionable strategies. Through Telosa’s partnerships with cities, researchers, and practitioners, Jon contributes to efforts that strengthen communities by centering human experience in decision-making.