In addition to building a true sense of community, accessible gathering spaces and extracurricular activities such as sport and the arts also link residents across the socioeconomic spectrum for connections that generate social capital and create pathways out of poverty. Social capital refers to the networks, relationships, and norms of trust and reciprocity that exist within and between groups of people. It encompasses the resources that individuals can access through their social networks, such as information, support, and opportunities for advancement.

Individuals with strong social capital often have access to a wider range of opportunities that bolster economic well-being, including access to decision-makers, job openings, educational resources, and mentorship, all of which are significantly less available to underserved groups. Highlighting the critical importance of social capital, a recent study found that cross-class friendships had a higher impact on future earning potential for low-income children than any other factor, including school quality, family structure, job availability or community racial composition (Nature, 2022).  Yet, as income disparity in the United States widens, economic segregation is rising, significnatly reducing the traditional avenues for people of different socioeconomic groups to interact. Youth sports, for example, have shifted from accessible, school-based athletics to expensive club-based teams, diminishing opportunities to forge ties that bring kids of different backgrounds together. By combining equitable places for people to make connections with the power of sport to bring people across demographic lines together, municipal golf course can serve as a springboard upward mobility.