Public parks, libraries and community spaces play a special role in our lives. They are places where neighbors gather, families spend time together and communities come alive through shared experiences. When these spaces feel welcoming and accessible, they can help people build relationships, develop trust and feel a sense of belonging.
That potential is what inspired the creation of the Community Compass, a new measurement tool developed through a partnership between the Walton Family Foundation and Trust for Public Land (TPL). This tool helps communities better understand how public spaces and programs support connection, belonging and trust — not just how many people attend, but how people experience those spaces and one another.
Here’s a closer look at how the Community Compass works and why it matters for communities.
Why was the Community Compass created?
For many organizations, measuring impact has traditionally meant counting visitors or tracking basic demographics. While those metrics are important, they don’t tell the full story. More meaningful metrics are much harder to measure. The Community Compass can help answer those deeper questions: Are people connecting? Do they feel welcomed? Do they feel like they belong? This simple, research-backed tool uses validated measures of belonging, trust and connection. By focusing on a short, carefully tested set of questions, the Compass makes it possible for even small nonprofits and municipal partners to measure meaningful social outcomes without needing in-house evaluation expertise.
The tool offers a way to better understand how shared experiences foster trust, connection and belonging, including across differences such as age, background or lived experience.
Public spaces like parks, libraries and community centers are among the few places designed to belong to everyone.
Why are welcoming public spaces so important for building connection?
Across the country, communities are grappling with rapid change, heightened division that impacts individuals’ lives and our collective well-being. These forces can lead to a sense of isolation, loss of trust and a reduced ability to work together.
Public spaces are among the few places designed to belong to everyone. They often have low barriers to entry and a shared sense of ownership — people understand that these spaces are for them and their neighbors.
The sense that “this is for all of us” creates powerful opportunities for connection. When people feel welcome in a space, they are more likely to engage with others, participate in activities and see themselves as part of a broader community. These spaces become common ground — places where relationships can form naturally through shared experiences. The social connections formed in these places strengthen community resilience and help us better tackle big challenges together.
Why is it important to measure outcomes like belonging, trust and social connection?
Belonging, trust and connection are sometimes described as “soft” outcomes, but they have very real impacts on how communities function and thrive. When people feel connected and valued, they are more likely to engage, collaborate and contribute to their communities.
The Compass helps capture these experiences in real time. It asks participants not only whether they attended an event, but how they felt while they were there — whether they met new people, whether they interacted with people different from themselves and whether the experience strengthened their sense of belonging. These insights help organizations understand what’s working and where there may be opportunities to strengthen programs or spaces.
How does the Community Compass work in practice for local organizations and partners?
The tool was intentionally designed to be both rigorous and accessible. It’s a short survey — typically 9 to 10 questions — that can be administered on paper or digitally, often right after an event or program. It also includes helpful guidance on how to administer the survey and make sense of the results.
One of the key goals of the tool is to build confidence and capacity, especially for small nonprofits and municipalities that may not have dedicated evaluation staff. The Compass offers a clear, easy-to-use framework that allows organizations to understand and communicate their social impact without needing deep technical expertise or large evaluation budgets.
What makes the Community Compass different from other evaluation or survey tools?
What makes the Community Compass unique is that it is centered on community voice. It encourages a strong feedback loop, allowing participants to reflect on their experiences and organizations to listen more closely to how their work is being received. Rather than feeling extractive, the process is designed to support learning, reflection and improvement.
What can communities gain from using the Community Compass?
At its best, we hope the Community Compass will spark reflection and conversation. The insights it provides can help organizations understand how their work is experienced on the ground — what resonates, what could be improved and what’s making a meaningful difference. And because partners across Northwest Arkansas will be using a shared set of measures, the Compass also creates a common language for understanding how different places, programs and events contribute to belonging across the region.
That learning can inform program design, strengthen partnerships and help organizations communicate their impact more clearly — not only within their own work, but as part of a broader, collective effort to build belonging across Northwest Arkansas. This all serves the bigger goal for organizations: helping enhance trust and build meaningful connection among residents of a community.
What advice would you offer to organizations just beginning to use the Community Compass?
Don’t be intimidated. The Community Compass is meant to support organizations, not burden them.
This tool aims to meet organizations where they are — offering a practical, manageable way to learn and grow. Approaching it with curiosity and openness can unlock valuable insights that strengthen both programs and relationships with the community.
At its heart, the Community Compass is about listening. It’s a way for communities to better understand what helps people feel welcome, connected and engaged — and to use that knowledge to make shared spaces even stronger.
