Missouri outperforms national trends for volunteering, community engagement and voter turnout, but some forms of civic involvement, such as one-on-one interactions with neighbors, may be waning, according to a report released Oct. 26 by Missouri State University and the National Conference on Citizenship.
The Springfield metropolitan statistical area had higher rates of voter turnout and volunteering than Kansas City or St. Louis and a higher rate than the average for all metro areas, according to the 2010 Missouri Civic Health Assessment.
The Springfield area studied – Greene, Christian, Dallas, Polk and Webster counties – also led when it came to working with neighbors to fix something in their community. Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield each has about the same levels of attending public meetings, and each is slightly above the average for all of Missouri’s metro areas, the report showed.
“Usually, we think of our society’s health in terms of the markets and government,” said Michael Stout, author of the report and assistant professor at MSU. “But this report looks at the social fabric of our society: the social networks that are key to providing access to collective resources needed to address Missouri’s problems.”
The Missouri Civic Health Index is the first of its kind and is designed to help the state document the health of Missouri’s civic sector.
“One of the things that NCoC has been promoting has been related to having a culture created within corporations and companies that actually promote and encourage employees to get involved,” Stout said.
Businesses looking for a monetary value on civic involvement should consider these statistics, Stout said.
In Missouri between 2007 and 2009, about 159 million hours were volunteered; the average value of volunteer time is $18.70 per hour; and residents contributed $3.3 billion in volunteer service.
Household income levels also influence volunteer rates; Missouri households with incomes of $75,000 or more have a 23 percent higher volunteer rate than those with incomes lower than $35,000.
But Missouri families with incomes less than $35,000 are twice as likely to do favors for their neighbors than those among families with incomes greater than $75,000. And Missourians without a college education are more likely than their peers in other states to be a member of and hold a leadership position in a social group. Thus, Missouri has a stronger blue-collar base for civic participation than most other states.
The complete civic health report is available
here.
Read more about the civics report in the Nov. 1 print edition of Springfield Business Journal.[[In-content Ad]]
