Civic Engagement
Civic engagement is the sense of connectedness that citizens feel with others, a willingness to serve their community and engage in community problem-solving. It can take many forms -- from making charitable contributions to volunteering; from voting to campaigning for candidates or issues to serving on local boards, committees, and councils. Civic participation, volunteerism, and service help create strong and vibrant communities.
Why is This Important?
Civic engagement promotes social trust and improves the quality of life in the Commonwealth. Robert Putnam argues in Bowling Alone that such "social capital" is necessary for good government and economic development. Civic engagement improves the lives of both participants and beneficiaries. Higher social capital levels have been linked with better health, lower crime, improved educational outcomes, and greater individual happiness. There are also economic benefits: One estimate places the economic value of the charitable or nonprofit sector at 7 percent of national income.
How is Virginia Doing?
Volunteerism
One measure of civic engagement is the percentage of residents who volunteer. In 2015, 30.6 percent of Virginia's adults worked unpaid volunteer hours, a half-point increase from the previous year. This was higher than the national rate of 24.9 percent and ranked the state 15th in the nation. Tennessee (24.1%), North Carolina (25.8%), and Maryland (27.9%) all had lower volunteer rates than Virginia. The leading state for volunteerism was again Utah at 43.2 percent.
Charitable Contributions
Charitable
contributions provide
another measure of social
involvement. Virginia
households donated an
average of $1,449 in
2013, which represented
2.1 percent of household
gross adjusted income, a bit higher than the national average (2.0%). Although many states saw a slight decrease in their contribution rates, Virginia's
percentage rose slightly from 2012 and ranked the Commonwealth 13th overall. However, Virginia
lagged all three peer
states: Tennessee (2.3%), North Carolina
(2.4%), and Maryland
(2.4%). Utah led
the nation in this category, too, with 4.5 percent
of income donated
as charitable contributions.
Among Virginia regions, in 2013 the Central region
had the highest contribution
as a percentage of income
(2.37%), followed by the Hampton Roads (2.27%) and West Central
(2.24%) regions. The Southwest region had the lowest contribution percentage at 1.42 percent, followed by the Northern region, with 1.89 percent.
Voter Turnout
Voter turnout gauges citizens’ level
of political involvement, an important component
of civic engagement -- and a prerequisite
for maintaining public accountability. The
number of voters as a percent of the estimated
citizen voting age population (CVAP) provides
one measure of voter participation.
In 2014, Virginia ranked 31st in the nation, with 36.6 percent of CVAP casting ballots. Maine had the highest turnout in 2014, with 59.2 percent of CVAP casting ballots. Virginia had a higher voting rate than peer states Tennessee (29.5%), but lower than North Carolina (40.9%) and Maryland (41.6%). Total voter turnout in the nation in 2014 was 36.4 percent.
Turnout rates in Virginia’s regions are available
for the 2014 national elections using a voting
age population (VAP) measure that includes
all residents of voting age, rather than just
citizens. The Eastern (38.5%) and Central (37.1%) regions had the highest
VAP turnout rates, followed by
the Northern region at 34.3 percent. The lowest
turnout rate was in the Southwest region (29.1%). Total Virginia VAP turnout in 2014
was 33.9 percent, slightly higher than the national VAP rate
of 33.0 percent. (See
Voter Registration and
Turnout for a full
discussion).
What Influences Civic Engagement?
The pressures of time, money, and family commitments can negatively affect civic engagement. For instance, citizens who work full-time and experience long commutes have less time available for community service and civic activities. By contrast, part-time employees and citizens who live and work in small towns volunteer at greater rates. Senior citizens, who tend to be retired or part-time workers, contribute more average volunteer hours than other age groups.
Social stratification and community divisions along lines of income, race, ethnicity, and religion can make civic engagement more difficult. Educational levels and church attendance are strongly correlated with civic engagement and philanthropic giving.
Political engagement -- or lack thereof -- is a big factor in voter turnout. According to Thomas Patterson in The Vanishing Voter, since 1960 the type of citizen who votes less often has been gradually replacing the type who votes more often -- with the decline in participation concentrated among low-income Americans. Voter turnout is also affected, among other factors, by the office being voted on, convenience of registration, and voter educational level, age, and attitude.
What is the State's Role?
The State Board of Elections administers election laws and manages voter registration. The Virginia General Assembly is responsible for creating voter laws and dividing the state into representative legislative and Congressional voting districts; every 10 years (after every U.S. national population census), legislators must review and if necessary redraw these districts to reflect population changes.
The state can help promote civic engagement by ensuring fair voter and redistricting processes; by building partnerships among government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private citizens; and by maintaining networks of information about volunteer and charitable opportunities. It can also lead by example and provide easy access to information about government activities and decision-making, solicit and use public input, and encourage public employees to donate and serve. Citizens are much more likely to volunteer if they are asked.
Since education is also an important determinant of social capital, state support for public education, including civic education and service learning, is key to improving engagement.
What Can Citizens Do?
In a word: Participate! Citizens can become involved through activities as simple as voting, donating to a community-based organization, or attending a public meeting. Other possibilities involve a range of greater time commitments, such as volunteering with a neighborhood organization or church group, or joining a local volunteer fire department, or serving on a local government commission, committee, or task force. The Commonwealth of Virginia provides information on volunteer opportunities and volunteer training programs through several outlets, including Virginia Service.
State rankings are ordered so that #1 is understood to be the best.
Data Definitions and Sources
Percentage of Adult Population that Volunteers
Source: Corporation for National and Community
Service, Volunteering
in America.
www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/rankings.cfm
A three-year moving average is used to improve
the accuracy of the estimates. Volunteers are
defined as individuals who performed unpaid volunteer
activities at any point during the 12-month period
beginning on September 1 of the previous year.
The
base data is obtained from the Current Population
Survey Volunteer Supplement.
Charitable Giving by Households
Urban Institute, National Center for Charitable
Statistics (NCCS), nccs.urban.org
Average adjusted gross income and charitable giving
by state as reported on IRS tax return Form 1040,
Schedule A, by households that itemize deductions,
from IRS Tax Return Summary Files.
Voter Turnout
U.S. Election Assistance Commission - Election
Day Survey.
Note: Alabama was dropped as leading state in 2014 because EAC ballot data does not correspond to that reported on the state's election site.
Dee, Thomas S. 2004. Are There Civic Returns to Education? Journal of Public Economics 88: 1697-1720.
Freeman, Richard B. 1997. Working for Nothing: The Supply of Volunteer Labor. Journal of Labor Economics. 15, 1: S140-S166.
Patterson, Thomas E. 2002. The Vanishing Voter: Public Involvement in an Age of Uncertainty (excerpted at History News Network, http://hnn.us/articles/1104.html)
Putnam, Robert. 2001. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Putnam, Robert. 2007. E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century: The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture. Scandinavian Political Studies 30, 2: 137-174.
Rupasingha, Anil, Stephan J. Goetz, and David Freshwater. 2006. The Production of Social Capital in US Counties. The Journal of Socio-Economics 35: 83-101.
See the Data Sources and Updates Calendar for a detailed list of the data resources used for indicator measures on Virginia Performs.
