Albany Times Union
December 9, 2010
By CASEY SEILER State Editor
Published: 12:00 a.m., Thursday, December 9, 2010
ALBANY — If New York state’s body politic were an actual human body, the data from the Siena Research Institute’s 2010 checkup on its "civic health" would suggest both strength and stress.
And just as too many of its residents don’t make it to the gym enough, they could stand to exercise their democratic muscles more often.
Released Wednesday in collaboration with the National Conference on Citizenship, the index measured the state’s civic health by using a range of data to measure five broad categories: social connectedness to other members of the community; trust in neighbors and civic institutions; participation in the shared responsibility to address unmet social needs; the effort to stay informed; and the willingness to perform social duties such as voting.
Summarizing the data in a news conference at Siena, Research Institute Director Don Levy noted that New Yorkers have strong connections to family and friends and strong levels of trust in local institutions. Also, they are on average more informed than the national average — and read daily newspapers 6 percent ahead of the rest of the nation.
But the state lagged in areas such as donations to charity (10 percent below the national average) and came in last in the nation on the rate of volunteerism. The index found, for example, that only 14 percent of New Yorkers ages 16 to 24 perform any type of volunteer work.
The report concludes by noting that some of the blame for this deficit could be due to New Yorkers’ comparative dearth of leisure time, exacerbated by other regional causes such as the state’s longer average commute time.
Regional data suggests that New York City residents scored lowest on all five of the major civic health categories compared to suburban, upstate and rural areas, as well as urban zones outside of the five boroughs.
Levy noted that a tough economy puts a strain on numerous elements of civic life across the nation, even as it makes the need for community involvement more visible and necessary.
He noted that elements of civic health support each other, and that there is a "multiplier effect" in building up any one area — greater social connectedness, for example, enhances the desire to vote.
The Civic Health Index report draws from a number of state and national surveys for its data, which means that it does not have a single margin of error.
At Siena, the release of the study was followed by a forum in which participants discussed ways to boost civic health.
"If the problem is apathy, if the problem is cynicism, we need to address that," Levy said.