Partner Spotlight: NCoC’s new Issue Brief “Civic Health & Unemployment II: The Case Builds”

Better Civic Health means Lower Unemployment

Civic Health and Unemployment II: The Case Builds is the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC)’s latest issue brief. This 2012 Issue Brief explores the relationship between civic engagement and economic resilience. It finds that the density and type of nonprofit organizations in a community, as well as its social cohesion (the level at which citizens trust, talk to and help neighbors and socialize with family and friends), are important predictors of that community’s ability to withstand unemployment in a recession.

“Civic Health and Unemployment II: The Case Builds” is released by NCoC in partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with research by CIRCLE (the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement), Civic Enterprises, and Saguaro Seminar.

This brief is a continuation of research that began in 2011 with a brief called “Civic Health and Unemployment: Can Engagement Strengthen the Economy?” That brief found that five measures of civic engagement – attending meetings, helping neighbors, registering to vote, volunteering and voting – appear to help protect against unemployment and contribute to overall economic resilience. See the related 2011 brief.
The research will be presented this week in Philadelphia during the National Conference on Citizenship’s 67th annual conference, which brings together civic leaders, educators, CEOs and government representatives to address issues related to our nation’s civic health.

Viewers can watch the conference, including the announcement of the winners via livestream from 1-5:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 14th. There will be a panel exploring the link between civic engagement and employment at 1:45 p.m ET.

To join the conversation on Twitter, follow @NCoC and @CivicData and the hashtag #NCoC, or on its Facebook page. The conference will include questions from Twitter followers as part of the conference.

Authors: Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg (CIRCLE), Chaeyoon Lim (University of Wisconsin) and Peter Levine (CIRCLE).

Table of Contents

• 1 – Introduction
• 2 – Executive Summary
• 3 – Evidence Builds that Civic Health Protects Against Unemployment
• 4 – Specific Findings: The Number and Type of Nonprofit Organizations Predict Resilience to Unemployment
• 5 – Specific Findings: Social Cohesion Also Predicts Resilience Against Unemployment
• 6 – Explaining Some Causal Mechanisms: Some Possibilities
• 7 – Conclusion
• 8 – Technical Notes
• 9 – Glossary of Terms and Data Sources
• 10 – Endnotes

Suggested citation for this publication:
National Conference on Citizenship. Civic Health and Unemployment II: The Case Builds, Washington DC. 2012, September.