Social Network Analysis of Lowell

January 8, 2015 by DickH Posted in Lowell 14 Comments

Social network analysis looks at how people and organizations are connected and interact.  People who are active in their community, political or otherwise, engage in a type of informal social network analysis without thinking about it much.

How do individuals & groups in Lowell interact?

I’ve long been interested in how Lowell “works” and from time to time have tried to sketch out all the players and their relationships.  It finally occurred to me that crowd-sourcing this effort might be the best way to do it.

I figured we should start with organizations rather than individuals.  Here is my initial list.  Please think about other organizations active in Lowell that should be added.

Government
City Council
School Committee
Greater Lowell Vocational School Committee
City Administration
State Representatives
State Senator
Members of Congress
Lowell National Historical Park
Northern Middlesex Council of Governments
Lowell Housing Authority
Lowell Regional Transit Authority
MBTA (Commuter Rail)

Education
UMass Lowell
Middlesex Community College
Lowell Public Schools
Charter Schools
Parochial/Private Schools
Home Schoolers
School-Parent Organizations (PTOs)
Day Care providers
YMCA
Girls Inc
Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell

Athletics
Lowell Youth Soccer
Little Leagues
Pop Warner Football
New Wave Swim Club
Greater Lowell Road Runners
Baystate Marathon
Lowell Bike Coalition

Business-Related
Lowell Plan
Lowell Development & Finance Corp
Neighborhood Organizations
Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce
Merrimack Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau
Cambodia Town
Young Professionals
Greater Lowell Bar Association
Entrepreneurship for All
Lowell Makes

Media
Lowell Sun
KhmerPost USA
WCAP
Lowell Telecommunications
New Media (Blogs)
Social Media groups & users
City Life TV show

Community Service
Cambodian Mutual Assistance Assoc
Light of Cambodian Children
United Teen Equality Center
International Institute
African Cultural Association
Mass Alliance of Portuguese Speakers
Coalition for a Better Acre
Ethnic Clubs & Social organizations
Community Teamwork Inc (CTI)
Mill City Grows
Greater Lowell Veterans Council & other Veterans Groups
Churches/Temples/Houses of Worship

Health
Lowell General Hospital
Lowell Community Health Center
Lowell Coalition for the Blind

Philanthropic
Greater Lowell Community Foundation
Parker Foundation
Stevens Foundation

Cultural
Lowell Historic Society
New England Quilt Museum
Museum of American Textile History
Lowell Spinners
Cultural Organization of Lowell (COOL)
119 Gallery
Other Galleries
Angkor Dance Troupe
Arts League of Lowell
Western Avenue Studios
Brush Gallery

Organized Labor/Political
Central Labor Council
United Teachers of Lowell
Public Safety Unions
Other organized labor
Democratic City Committee
Republican City Committee

Update – January 8 at 8pmHere are some other organizations suggested in comments and on Facebook.  Please keep scrutinizing and suggesting more additions:

Greater Lowell Music Theatre
Sarah Joy FoundationOne27Global
WUML
Image Theater
Non Profit Alliance of Greater Lowell
Center for Hope and Healing
Career Center of Lowell
Greater Lowell Workforce Investment Board
Lowell Senior Center
You Know You’re From Lowell Facebook group
Merrimack Repertory Theatre
Lowell Memorial Auditorium
Tsongas Center
Lowell Art Association
Lowell Festival Foundation

Update – January 10 at 6pm Here are some other organizations suggested in comments and on Facebook.  Please keep scrutinizing and suggesting more additions:

Lowell Parks and Conservation TrustPollard Memorial Library
Center for Lowell History
Tsongas Industrial History Center
Merrimack Valley Magazine
Howl
Lowell Heritage Partnership
Learning in Retirement Association (LIRA)

Update – January 14 at 636 am More additions to the list:

Department of Children and Families
Department of Transitional Assistance
Mill No5
FreeVerse!

14 Responses to Social Network Analysis of Lowell

  2. Ratbas says:

    Pretty complete looking list. I don’t know if their are any local podcasts or vlogs, but those would probably fall under new media. WUML can probably be seen as a media source even if UML is listed elsewhere.

  4. Sharon Bisantz says:

    Image Theater has been working in Lowell for over ten years! Producing several events for every one of those years. Not easy for a small company, but it illustrates the support that Lowell has for the performing arts.

  8. Mike Paglia says:

    Dick could you add the Career Center of Lowell and the Greater Lowell Workforce Investment Board. Thanks.

  9. Paula McCarron says:

    I’d suggest adding Lowell Senior Center and one or two of the Facebook pages which focus on Lowell. And religious organizations/churches also would add another dimension

  11. M. Figueroa says:

    Hi
    ! I got this piece from a facebook friend (Chris Hayes). Although I don’t live in Lowell, I do know the area through friends in Amherst & Boston. I don’t see any Hispanic groups listed. They may be part of other cultural groups, but just in case, i am including the Latin American Festival. If they are not a 501c3, they may be affiliated to another.

    There must be some groups, because Hispanics are 14% of the population (as of 2010). Anyway. This may be a good place to start getting more info. It makes me wonder about the power of networks. There might be very few connections between Hispanic groups/activities and others in Lowell(?). Food for thought (and a possible paper!)

    Lowell Latin American Festival
    PO Box 9534
    Lowell, MA 01853
    Phone: (978) 710-5338
    Website: http://www.lowelllatinamerican.com

    Best of luck with your project.
    Myriam
    Ps I’m. On fb

  12. new lowellian says:

    This is very interesting, thanks for kicking this off!

    My one suggestion would be to include businesses, given that under capitalist social relations, people (and localities) don’t ‘work’ unless the spigots of private investment are open. The history of Lowell starkly shows how business can make and then discard cities. What’s the Butler quote about bees and honey? I for one would love to know what the major businesses in Lowell are, how many people they employ, how they interact with different organizations on the list, etc.

  13. DickH says:

    New Lowellian, I agree that the business world plays a huge role in Lowell and intend to do something similar for its inhabitants. After that, the next step is to drill down into all of these groups and list individual players. If a person works for company A and is on the board of nonprofit B, that would be interesting to know.