Is County Level of Social, Creative, and Human Capital Associated with Winning Humanities Grants in Kansas?. Issue 4 (11th April 2014) - Johnson, Bonnie J.
Abstract This article examines patterns of Kansas Humanities Council grant distributions to organizations in the state's counties and then assesses social, creative, and human capital explanations for the observed patterns. Substantial numbers of counties have received no grants across a fifteen‐year period. Why is that? The analyses reveal that the presence of statistically significant relationships depends on the intersection of the type of capital in the county and the type of grant program: (1) the receipt of heritage grants is associated with county levels of network social capital, particularly those networks that are "non‐rent‐seeking"; (2) the receipt of "mini" Humanities grants and total grants are associated with levels of creative capital; and (3) the level of human capital makes little difference in grant patterns. These relationships persist under controls for racial/ethnic diversity, income inequality, and dominant political ideology. The implications of the results are assessed in terms of strategies for granting agencies to deal with building community life in low–social capital settings.