I’m Sensing a Pattern Here… (Updates in Civic Engagement)

Posted by on June 26, 2019 at 4:59 PM

Before we talk patterns or surveys, I wanted to let you know that the Bridge Alliance, Big Tent Nation, and NCoC are accepting nominations for the Third Annual Civvys Awards until July 12th. If you know an individual, organization, or project that is making a positive impact through collaboration, nominate them here. The categories are National, Local, and Youth.

As for last week’s survey...we asked you what “Civic Engagement” means to you, and many of you responded (results at the bottom -- spoiler: the #1 response might surprise you!).

Our question this week: how many of your friends are on the “other side” ideologically?

Now let’s talk about that pattern. For this week’s update, I looked for the latest in Civic Engagement. What I found was a commitment to engaging young Americans. Indeed, there appears to be a renewed emphasis on building a sense of citizenship in the “next generation.” Some of those efforts include:

iCivics has formed a coalition of 96 organizations (including 9 Bridge Alliance members) who “pledge to ensure that every young person acquires the civic knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary for informed and authentic civic engagement.”
American Democracy Project is piloting the Digital Polarization Institute (“DigiPo”) on 11 campuses across the country to build web literacy (i.e. don’t believe everything you read) among students.
Participatory Budgeting Project has partnered with high schools throughout NYC to give students the opportunity to decide where a portion of the city’s discretionary budget is spent.
Young Invincibles has released several apps to help Millennials control their future, including one to connect homeless young adults in Chicago with necessary resources.

Now let’s get to those poll results!

As I said before, the #1 response might surprise you:

Over 80%(!!!) of you said that civic engagement means “Connecting with elected officials.” This is heartening to me because engaging with elected officials is a relatively high level of civic engagement.
That said, the Bridge Alliance has many member organizations that help citizens communicate more effectively with their elected representative and because of your input that will be a subject of a future update.
Tied for second place, just over 75% of you selected each of “Voting,” “Volunteering in your community,” and “Staying informed.”
The next tier of answers were “Discussing politics with friends and neighbors” and “Attending community events,” each of which gathered about 60% of votes.
All other responses were chosen by less than 50% of respondents, including “Engaging in advocacy work” (45%), “Participating in demonstrations” (40%), and “Attending religious services” (20%).
Finally, one person said that civic engagement means being an active participant at public forums.

Thank you to everybody who participated (if you didn’t and still want to, click here), as we love learning about you and getting your thoughts.

And as always, thank you for your support,

Sincerely,

Bridge Alliance Education Fund

Think we missed a big news story involving a Bridge Alliance member? Email us at [email protected] and we'll make sure to get the story out on social media.

Bridge Alliance Members in the News:

Leadership Now Project - Harvard Business Review - Your Vote Counts? How the Leadership Now Project Wants to Get Your Skin in the Game

Better Angels - The Federalist - This Group Got Black Lives Matter And Tea Party Leaders To Talk. Can The Rest Of Us?

Take Back Our Republic - Talking Points Memo - Meet The Ex-Breitbart GOPer Waging A Lonely Fight To Combat Gerrymandering