Study Highlights Civic Involvement

The key to a community's quality of life may lie in civic involvement, according to massive new survey designed by a seminar at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG).

Building on the work of KSG professor Robert D. Putnam, the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey, the largest of its kind to date, gathered data from 40 communities across the country to assess citizens' community involvement and their perceptions of community life.

Termed "social capital" by the researchers, the willingness of community members to trust, socialize and come together with their neighbors for voluntary activities is directly linked to happiness and satisfaction with community life. The importance of "social capital" exceeds that of community wealth or education level, according to survey sponsors.

A central issue addressed by the survey was the effect of the growing diversity of the American population on civic involvement.

According to the survey, members of diverse communities generally hold more tolerant attitudes and know more members of minority groups. However, such communities are also less likely to have high levels of voting, and members are less likely to know and trust their neighbors.

The survey also examined the effect of religion on civic involvement. According to the survey data, religious activity is an indicator of higher levels of civic participation, and has "some matchless strengths as sources of civic engagement," Putnam said in a statement.

The survey also revealed a socioeconomic gap in community involvement and participation.

"Americans lacking access to financial and human capital also lack access to social connections," Putnam said. "This lack of connections exacerbates the burden for Americans struggling to advance economically."

The survey, which interviewed nearly 30,000 people in 29 states, will be used by community groups as a diagnostic tool in their efforts to revitalize community life.

"While previous research measures trends in civic engagement over time, the survey is useful to analyze differences in civic engagement across the country. The survey maps the relative strengths and areas for improvement in communities' civic behavior and sets a baseline against which future progress can be assessed in another survey several years hence," Putnam said. "It represents an extraordinary, enormous trove of data for policymakers, researchers and community builders."

In addition to taking part in the survey, the participating community organizations have committed to undertake civic revitalization projects to address the deficiencies revealed by the survey.

A report from the Saguaro Seminar, the KSG initiative which designed the survey, was released Dec. 19 of last year as a resource and guide to help community organizations with community-building strategies.

The Saguaro Seminar, launched by Putnam, consists of 33 academics, community leaders and activists. Putnam, the author of Bowling Alone: Collapse and Revival of the American Community, also serves as the project's principal investigator.

--Staff writer Ross A. Macdonald can be reached at jrmacdon@fas.harvard.edu