By Jim O'Sullivan
News Editor

Having elicited the reassurance she wanted, Doreen Treacy was ready to proceed.

"You can go to meetings seven nights a week in Dorchester, every night of the month, you know. I just wanted to be sure it wasn't going to be about more meetings," Treacy said outside the Fields Corner office where she directs the Health Services Partnership Civic Health Institute.

And, for her at least, the arrival of Social Capital Inc. will likely translate into a few more meetings. But the organization's aim in its southern progression to Dorchester is to streamline "the civic culture," according to Treacy. Geared toward connecting residents to the services and mobilizing neighborhoods, the two-year-old non-profit has flourished in Woburn, where its founder saw an opportunity to re-ignite a flagging community cohesion.

Isn't Dorchester saturated with non-profits and their ilk: health centers, civic groups, anti-violence initiatives, youth programs, enough institutes and coalitions to choke a

"It is," Treacy answers, "but here's the real deal: SCI sees itself as sort of counterbalancing most of these issue-specific programs."

Under Treacy's purview, SCI Dorchester will incorporate the principles David Crowley applied when he started Social Capital Inc. in Woburn, after he moved back to his hometown and found a sense of disconnect. Drawing on the ideas laid out by Harvard professor Robert Putnam in his book "Bowling Alone" - which reported that more Americans than ever were bowling but fewer were bowling in leagues - Crowley set about engaging youths, connecting pre-existing groups, teaching technology, mobilizing voters.

"Social capital is a fancy academic term," Crowley said. "Bascially, you're talking about a sense of community."

In Dorchester - where the program will zero in on Codman Square and Fields Corner - Crowley sees a ripe opportunity for SCI to expand. "Because there's so many things going on there, there's not necessarily a portal to get a bird's eye view of things."

Charged with developing SCI Dorchester's strategy in its early going is Marisa Coleman, a 30-year-old Grove Hall native with a Northeastern education in political science and African-American studies. Coleman, who hopes to apply for the staff position when it becomes full time in a few months, said the program's diagnostic stage is about "trying to get a really good feel" for the non-profit network.

"A lot of organizations are kind of doing the same thing, but there isn't a clear communication, so we can create a mechanism for people to effectively communicate," Coleman said.

Crowley said he expects rocky receptions from some quarters, recalling that his work with Generations Inc. led him to remain circumspect about new groups.

Indeed, Viet-AID Executive Director Nhan Paul TonThat said he regretted that SCI Dorchester isn't "a little more inclusive for the other health centers, like [Bowdoin Street Health Center], because it seems to be a health center focus."

"This is, though incredibly welcome, a bit narrow," TonThat said of the initiative. "I have not seen a larger invitation to sit down and sort of think out loud about Dorchester."

Treacy wants to do just that. Pointing to flow charts and something called an "engagement continuum," she talks about being a "meta-level convener." Concretely, that means setting up a sort of clearinghouse of a website, where prospective volunteers can learn about groups that need help. It means getting top-notch kids from the Y to help form a youth council that will distribute grants to other youth groups. "The intention," Treacy said, is not to re-create anything that's already happening, because there's a lot already happening. It's to create linkages."

And productive linkages at that. Like the one that hooked Crowley up with Bill Walczak, the executive director of the Codman Square Health Center, which along with Dorchester House comprises the Health Services Partnership, SCI Dorchester's aegis. Walczak and Crowley were told by mutual acquaintances that they should meet, until finally, at a Boston Globe Foundation event, they did, and began talking.

Walczak, summarized his path-crossing with Crowley, blithely if unintentionally summarizes the organization's goal for Dorchester non-profits: "We were in the same room at the same time."