First–Ever Report on the Civic Health of Alabama Finds that Neighbors Matter More than Politicians

Alabama Civic Health Index examines the strength of Alabama’s social connections and its impact on community engagement across the state

April 19, 2012

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – April 19, 2012 – A report released today by the David Mathews Center for Civic Life, the University of Alabama – New College, Auburn University – College of Liberal Arts and NCoC (the National Conference on Citizenship) finds that Alabama out-performs national trends in public work – including attending meetings and working with neighbors to solve problems. Some forms of civic involvement, such as contacting elected officials and joining groups, appear to be lagging.

The Alabama Civic Health Index is the first report of its kind in the state. It is designed to help document traditional forms of participation, like voting and volunteering, and how Alabamians are connecting with friends, family, neighbors and institutions. The Civic Health Index finds that in 2010, Alabama ranked 18th in the nation for the percentage of citizens working with neighbors to solve community problems. This is in line with the findings that Alabama citizens ranked 4th in the nation for doing favors for neighbors and 7th in the nation for talking with neighbors.

The reliance upon neighbors is much stronger outside of the state’s major cities, with Alabama’s rural residents more likely to exchange favors with neighbors at least a few times a week, at 29.6 percent, as opposed to 15.3 percent of urban residents and 15.8 percent of suburban residents. Similarly, rural residents were more likely to talk frequently with neighbors at 55.3 percent versus 48.2 percent of urban residents and 44.2 percent of suburban residents.

“The programs that the David Mathews Center sponsors across the state of Alabama focuses on public work and community-based decision making,” Chris McCauley, executive director of the David Mathews Center for Civic Life said. “Through analyzing the results of the civic health index, we can continue to develop new strategies to engage Alabamians and work toward improving the civic and democratic health of the state.”

The report identifies statewide efforts to foster civic engagement including civic education initiatives, volunteer programs and community-driven problem solving efforts. The David Mathews Center for Civic Life is working with citizens across Alabama to discuss what citizens can do to address the drop-out situation in their communities. Another featured program is the Alabama Poverty Project, which is helping Alabamians to eliminate poverty by providing presentations, seminars and working with communities to develop strategic plans to end poverty.

“We hope the Alabama Civic Health Index will inspire the development of new programs, initiatives, policy and investments that increase access and opportunity for all Alabamians to engage in their communities,” Kristen Cambell, chief program officer of NCoC said. “This will not only strengthen the civic fabric of the state, but could create models that other states in our civic health network could learn from and replicate.”

Key Research Findings
The report includes economic, geographic and generational analysis to see how income, place and age may affect contributions to community. Findings include:

• While 33.9 percent of urban residents and 32.5 percent of rural residents discuss politics at least a few times a year, only 16.7 percent of suburban residents report doing so.
• Overall, only 43.9 percent of Alabamians connect over the Internet a few times a week or more; this is less than the national rate of 54.3 percent.
• Women tend to be more socially connected than men: 29.9 percent of women connected in three or more ways, compared with only 22.7 percent of men.
• Public work generally increases with age, peaking for those between the ages of 65 and 80 (9.9 percent). Education is also a strong predictor of public work – just 1.2 percent of adults without high school diplomas met the criteria, as compared to 9.4 percent of college graduates.

“The report is an excellent reminder that we have work to do in Alabama to make our democracy perform as it should,” Dr. Mark Wilson, director of Civic Learning Initiatives in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University said. “The stats say we are neighborly, and that’s nice and very southern, but we need to turn that energy into the kind of public work that will help us solve the problems that don’t seem to go away very easily.”

The complete 2011 Alabama Civic Health Index report is available online at www.mathewscenter.org and www.NCoC.net/ALCHI2011. Alabamians are encouraged to join in the dialogue by posting their comments in response to the report.