Advancing the Measurement of Collective Community Capacity and the Evaluation of Community Capacity‐Building Models

Although more communities, practitioners, and policymakers are recognizing the value of community capacity‐building initiatives, more valid, reliable, and pragmatic measures of collective community capacity are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of such efforts. Over the past 6 years, there has been significant work to advance the measurement and evaluation of collective community capacity‐building initiatives. Accomplishments include the design, testing, and implementation of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Resilience Collective Community Capacity (ARC3) Survey; the adaptation of the ARC3 Survey for a broader range of community capacity‐building initiatives such as the Collective Community Capacity (C3) Survey; and testing of the C3 Survey in over thirty communities in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom. These advances will produce more valid, reliable, and pragmatic measures and community capacity‐building models that will contribute to the theory and practice of community‐level change. This chapter highlights work completed over 6 years to develop and test a valid and reliable measure of collective community capacity.