New Report: 2013 Volunteering and Civic Life in America

Posted by National Conference on Citizenship on January 5, 2015

Today, the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC), in partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the U.S. Census Bureau, released new Volunteering and Civic Life in America (VCLA) data for 2013.

While some key indicators remain high, 16 of the 20 civic health indicators dropped compared to our most recent data collected in 2011 and 2012. Below are some of the central findings:

• Confidence in corporations increased with 64.5% reporting they have some or a great deal of confidence, up 2.5 points from 62% in 2011.
• 25.4% or 62 million Americans volunteered a total of 7.7 billion hours compared to 26.5% in 2012.
• 55.8% of Americans trust most or all of the people in their neighborhood and 12.1% of Americans exchanged favors for neighbors frequently. Both decreased by .9 and 1.9 points respectively since 2011.
• More than a third of Americans (36.3%) are involved in a school, civic, recreational, religious, or other organization, down 3 points from 2011.
• Americans who hear from family or friends frequently saw the third biggest drop at 3.3 points since 2011.
• Americans reporting that they had some or a great deal of confidence in the media had the biggest drop of 7 points from 62% to 55%.

Overall, the data shows Americans continue to volunteer and engage in their communities at high rates. While the data is only from two years, we should be vigilant about the challenges facing America’s civc health.

To overcome these challenges, we must all redouble our efforts in our personal and professional lives. At NCoC, we are building the Service Year exchange (SYx) to unite Americans through service and supporting our partners through the Civic Health Initiative. Learn more about these efforts and join us. Together, we can strengthen civic life in America.

http://ncoc.net/programs