The character and effectiveness of community institutions. The ways we learn about them and about the community more generally. The tools we have for forging and testing our bonds with each other. These are bricks and mortar for the creation of social capital. If the materials are shoddy, or in short supply, we will find it harder to build resources our neighbors, our children and our children's children can call on in time of need.
Resilient communities depend on a constant flow of energy, imagination and commitment.
Without them, we will find our neighborhoods increasingly vulnerable to the unexpected, we will find ourselves increasingly dissatisfied with daily routines and opportunities. It doesn't happen overnight. It cannot be cured in a day. In a sense that builds upon but extends well beyond the journalists' use of the term, this report reminds us of the central importance of stories to preserving a healthy community for ourselves and for the future. Narratives that give us confidence that institutions are functioning as we have a right to hope and expect.