Civic Life in Atlanta: Grading on a Curve

Earlier this month The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta released a report on the state of civic life in Atlanta.  This report was based on an analysis the 2011 Current Population Survey for the Atlanta metropolitan region (there is a separate report that looks at the state of Georgia as a whole).

In the Atlanta area, 28% of respondants reported that they do formal volunteer work and 10% said that they work with neighbors to fix community problems.  Both of these proportions are higher than in most cities in the U.S., with Atlanta ranking 6th for formal volunteerism among the country's 51 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and 12th for working with neighbor to fix a community problem.  If 10% working with neighbors gets you 12th ranking overall, it must be really bad in a lot of places -- 10% seems quite low to me.  The volunteering that we do is most commonly done for (or perhaps through) religious and educational organizations.

41% of us participate in some kind of an organization.  Our participation is high, relative to other metropolitan areas, for participation in school groups (5th overall) and sports and recreation programs (11th).  This sounds right to me, given what I remember about when our kids were younger, with an expectation for a high degree of parental involvement in both school and extracurricular sports activities.  We may participate, but it's not necessarily because we want to.  According to the report, "there is less willingness among individuals to assume leadership responsibilities by holding an office or serving on a committee," with the Atlanta region ranking 35th in this category.

In the Atlanta area, we rank a dismal 34th for seeing or hearing regularly from family and 36th for eating regularly with others in the household.  The authors speculate that "this may reflect the region's long-standing status as an in-migration hub for job-seekers, especially young adults."  Maybe.  It also may reflect that so many people spend so much time driving (or at soccer practice).

In terms of electoral participation, 65% of us are registered to vote but only 47% of us voted in the previous mid-term election (27th and 22nd, respectively, compared to other metropolitan areas).  For local election voting, we are 34th, with only 31% of us voting.  But we are high for online political expression (9th), contacting public officials (13%), and making purchasing decisions for certain products (either to buy or not buy them) based on our personal values (12%).  I interpret this that we like to complain about things but we aren't very good at actually showing up at the ballot box.

What do they recommend we do about this?  The report ends with recommendations for increasing civic engagement, with lists of things individuals, nonprofits, funders, public officials, the media, and the private sector can do.  Most of this is totally in the non-rocket-science category.  "Invite your neighbors to dinner; introduce your neighbors to one another.  Begin a neighborhood project like a community garden or neighborhood watch...Begin a neighborhood listserv."  Show up.  Pay attention.  Say hello.  Put your neighbor's newspaper on their porch when they're out of town.

And don't just complain, but figure out which candidate you think is best for the job and vote.