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After months of preparation, a long-anticipated initiative from the city of Pleasanton, Workday’s nonprofit arm and the TogetherUp Institute made its debut this week with a live event that aimed to serve as a starting point for conversations on deepening community connections.
The kickoff event for the Pleasanton Connects initiative Monday saw more than 40 community members, leaders and representatives from both nonprofits gather at the Pleasanton Senior Center to discuss the project’s aims and review research so far into the need and desire for community between the city’s residents.
“As we were reminded, loneliness is real and has real impacts on our health, and the key is connection,” Mayor Jack Balch said in a social media statement after the event, during which he had provided welcome remarks and was among the dozens of participants.
“As our city grows and changes, making sure all of us, across all ages and backgrounds, feel included and supported is essential,” he continued. “When’s the last time you said hi to a neighbor? Where do you build community connection?”
That question was a central theme of the evening, which consisted of small group and large group reflection sessions in addition to remarks from Balch and leaders from TogetherUp and the Workday Foundation.
Pleasanton Connects is described by organizers as “a new ‘civic hub’ network” aimed at uniting “leaders across sectors to build relationships, strengthen communication, and power collaborative action.”
Although this week marked the project’s first public event, the city announced the initiative to the public with a survey that was launched Oct. 21, describing it as “a pilot project designed to make our community even more connected, resilient, and collaborative.” Prior to that, organizers had completed a “listening tour” of 39 community leaders.
The results of both those efforts were up for discussion this week, with a presentation and summary of initial take-aways from the data that “reveal the state of connection in Pleasanton today” – with more to come, as organizers continue analyzing data and preparing a full report set to be released in the new year.
According to results from the listening tour and 1,064 responses from the community survey, the state of connection in Pleasanton currently is “rich in networks, but needs a boost in connective tissue.” More than half of survey respondents said they wanted more local relationships, and 70% of newcomers reported that sentiment. Despite their desire to foster local relationships, 45% of neighborhoods did not hold social gatherings over the past year, and 26% of respondents reported that they “rarely or never turn to a neighbor for help.”
Although there was an interest in more community connections across the board, Pleasanton Connects organizers reported that the desire was even deeper for certain groups. In addition to newcomers, renters, people of color, LGBTQ+ residents and seniors felt less connected than the average resident, according to survey results.
Members of those same groups reported feeling their influence in the community was limited, despite residents overall feeling “proud, safe, and attached to Pleasanton,” and free to express themselves. Overall, survey respondents scored 3.85 out of 5 on an emotional connection score, a 3.3 out of 5 on voice, and a 2.7 out of 5 on civic agency.
“Belonging is strong but uneven,” organizers said in the summary. “On average, Pleasanton scores higher on emotional connection and voice, but lower on civic agency. There are significant differences in these scores across groups.
Hostility and polarization on social media were concerns noted by residents and leaders, as well as overall widespread tensions that are tangible locally, such as “social silos,” economic challenges and high housing costs, and “representation gaps.”
Nonetheless, respondents were interested in bridging those gaps – albeit some more than others. 52% of residents surveyed reported that they “connect often” with people of different races and ethnicities, with 43% expressing “future interest” in doing so. However, only 28% reported that they “connect often” across partisan identities, and only 15% said they were interested in cross-political connection.
Community leaders interviewed during the listening tour listed some of their goals for the initiative as modeling relational leadership, reflecting diversity, strengthening trust, and creating genuine, “agenda-free” spaces for “listening, learning, and collaboration.”
Overall, community leaders envision “a Pleasanton that blends tradition with inclusion – where connection is intentional, equitable, and celebrated,” according to the summary of findings.
Some ways of achieving that include taking advantage of the city’s “belonging magnets” – with the library, Bernal Park, Valley Community Church, and the Downtown Farmers Market listed as the top four locations where residents feel a sense of belonging, according to the survey results, and fostering additional programming and “third space” opportunities.
In particular, the initiative is looking toward cross sector collaboration and new pathways for newcomers to the city to become involved in the community.
“Pleasanton stands at a promising crossroads,” organizers wrote in the summary presented this week. “Residents cherish what makes the city special – it’s safety, schools, and spirit – but see the need for new bridges across culture, class, and generation.”
While the survey and listening tour were aimed at garnering insight into the sense of community and connection in particular in Pleasanton, the need for an initiative like Pleasanton Connects is something organizers with TogetherUp have recognized at a national level.
The institute’s founder and director of research, Nichole Argo, said Tuesday night that Americans overall have a desire to connect across different groups, with the biggest reason for not doing so cited as a lack of opportunity.
In particular, she said that TogetherUp’s national research suggests that people across the country expressed the “highest interest in collaborating toward a common goal” – something that is set to be explored further in the full report of data prepared for Pleasanton Connects, which is scheduled for release in the new year.
“All of this is an opportunity to reweave the social fabric in ways that can make Pleasanton stronger,” Argo said.
Argo acknowledged the polarization and hostility that are often present on social media, and which threaten residents’ sense of community and connection, and encouraged the intentional use of social media and other technology to build rather than undermine community bonds.
“Digital connection is like instant ramen – it’s better than nothing, but it’s not a meal,” Argo said.
Given the problems often created by existing technology, Argo closed by addressing the elephant – or what she called the “robot” – in the room.
“We are officially in the age of artificial intelligence, and many worry that this will isolate us further,” Argo said, adding that while it has the potential to do so, “it doesn’t have to be that way.”
“The real danger isn’t that AI will become human – it’s that we will become less so,” Argo said. “The question is not ‘will this make us lonely?’ The question is how will we use these tools to replace connection or deepen it.”
“We can choose to design with humanity at the center, to use technology to spark real conversations that translate across cultures, to help people understand each other better than we currently do,” she continued. “So the future doesn’t belong to the smartest systems – it belongs to the most connected people.”
This week’s kickoff event is set to be the first of many in-person gatherings as part of Pleasanton Connects, with participants going on to brainstorm ideas for other events, groups, and practices that could deepen the city’s sense of community.
Residents can receive updates on new events and opportunities as the initiative moves forward by signing up for the Pleasanton Connects mailing list, with a newsletter set to debut in the new year.
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Well done.