By Hugh McIntosh, Sheldon Berman, and James Youniss

March 2010

“CIRCLE Working Paper #70” describes a five-year evaluation of a high school program designed to encourage schoolwide democratic deliberation.  The intervention involved, in part, organizing the school into clusters of 100 to 150 students that met for one hour each week to discuss governance and other school-related issues, perform community service, and pursue other cluster-related activities.  The researchers, Hugh McIntosh, Sheldon Berman, and James Youniss, found that over the five-year evaluation, the rate of participation in community service increased by 23 percentage points.  They attribute this increase to the clustering intervention, since 17% of all seniors (28 of 169) in 2007 reported that the only service they performed was in their cluster.  In addition, they note that the increase in community service participation spread widely throughout the student population, including males and females, Whites and non-Whites, high- and low-SES students, highly active students, and students who seldom get involved in non-academic school activities. The qualitative findings from this study support the idea that adult support plays an important role in building youth civic engagement.

*Download CIRCLE Working Paper #70 “A Five-Year Evaluation of a Comprehensive High School Civic Engagement Initiative”

Suggested Citation:  McIntosh, H., Berman, S., & Youniss, J. (2010). A Five Year Evaluation of a Comprehensive High School Civic Engagement Initiative (CIRCLE Working Paper No. 70). Retrieved from Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) website: http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/WorkingPapers/WP_70_McIntosh_Berman_Youniss.pdf

by Hugh McIntosh & Marco A. Muñoz

December 2009 

In Working Paper #69, the authors examine the civic engagement outcomes that Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) in  Louisville, KY, has chosen to promote in its students. Using a large sample in an urban school district, the study finds that the most important predictors of youth civic engagement were community service, political discussion, and environmental conservation. It reinforces the claims that community service, discussion of politics, and nonsport extracurricular activities boost civic engagement. As the authors suggest, the outcomes constitute a vision of civic engagement that sees youth as well-rounded citizens capable of engaging in civil, political, and problem-solving activities, both individually and socially. The findings provide intriguing evidence of the potential value of environmental conservation, conflict resolution skill, and character education as pathways to civic engagement.

*Download CIRCLE Working Paper #69 “Predicting Civic Engagement in Urban High School Students”

November 2009

Tisch College, Medford/Somerville, Mass. - Recent veterans who have volunteered since returning to the United States show a better adjustment to civilian life than their fellow returned servicemen and women who have not volunteered, according to a new report issued in time for Veterans Day. The report shows that volunteering helps bolster ties to the community and eases the transition back to civilian life.

• Download press release
• Download the fact sheet

September 2009

Young people who have immigrated to the United States or whose parents were born outside the U.S. are far less likely to volunteer than youth of U.S.-born parents, according to a new CIRCLE Fact Sheet. This cohort represents the fastest growing portion of the youth population.  22 percent of youth with U.S.-born parents and 21 percent of U.S.-born youth with one foreign-born parent volunteer. Only 9 percent of young people born outside of the U.S. and 14 percent of youth with both parents born outside of the U.S. volunteer.

•    Download the press release
•    Download the fact sheet

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The National Conference on Citizenship has released its annual Civic Health Index report for 2009, entitled Civic Health in Hard Times (pdf). As in past years, CIRCLE contributed to the design and analysis of the national survey that was the basis of the study and helped with the writing of the report. In addition to the 40 measures of civic participation that compose the Civic Health Index, the survey included timely questions about such topics as the perceived impact of the recession on civic life.

The NCoC summarizes the main findings as follows: “As economic distress continues through the summer and into the fall, Americans are suffering from a ‘civic foreclosure’ that is limiting the range and depth of their civic engagement. The survey’s results reflect the hard choices Americans have made during the downturn, with 72 percent of respondents saying they have cut back on time engaged in civic participation, which includes time spent volunteering, participating in groups or performing other civic activities in their communities. Public perception supports this finding, as 66 percent of Americans say they feel other people are responding to the current economic downturn by looking out for themselves, with only 19 percent saying people around them are responding to the recession by helping each other more.”

Suggested citation: National Conference on Citizenship, Civic Enterprises, Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement & Saguaro Seminar (2009), America’s Civic Health Index: Civic Health in Hard Times. Washington, D.C.: National Conference on Citizenship.

Tisch College, Tufts University —Despite the upward trend in youth volunteering, young adults with no college experience are half as likely to volunteer as their collegiate counterparts, according to a new report examining the relationship between youth volunteering and college experience. Roughly 43 percent of the 20-to-29-year-old population has not attended college. Download the fact sheet (in PDF) here.

Conducted by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University’s Tisch College and released jointly with the National Conference on Citizenship, the report found that 25 percent of young adults who have attended college volunteered in 2007 while only 11 percent of those with no college experience volunteered. This gap has remained constant since 2002.

Peter Levine, director of CIRCLE, said young people without college experience are underutilized and underestimated: “Studies show all young people want to get involved in their communities, and lack of college experience should not be the deciding factor,” Levine said. “Schools, communities and government need to create more opportunities for all young people, not just the ones with a college education. Volunteering and participation in civic life is an important part of society, and no one should be excluded from an opportunity to do so.”

The report found that young people who used new media tools such as email, social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace) and text messaging were more likely to volunteer. College and non-college youth use new media at similar rates. However, online forms of civic engagement (such as commenting on a blog for civic purposes) are less common among young people without college experience. These findings should be interpreted with caution because more research is needed on this topic.

“Facebook, Twitter and other new media were successfully utilized in the 2008 election to promote voting and political involvement among young people,” said David B. Smith executive director of NCoC “With both college and non-college youth using social networking sites more and more, this technology may help to close the volunteer gap between these two.”

Using data from the Census Current Population Survey (CPS) and other research, the report also found disparities within specific gender, racial and ethnic demographics. Regardless of college experience, young women volunteer at higher rates than young men. Additionally, whites with some college experience volunteer the most among 20-to-29-year-olds, volunteering at a rate of 28.2 percent. African Americans and Latinos with no college experience were the least likely to volunteer, with volunteering rates at 7.2 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively. American youth who live in rural areas have slightly higher rates of volunteering than the 19 percent national average for youth.

Eight in 10 young volunteers became involved by approaching the organization or being asked to become involved. Youth with college experience were more likely to have started volunteering through a pre-existing connection with that organization (33 percent) compared with 21 percent of non-college youth. Of those who started volunteering in some other way, youth without college experience were more likely to have started volunteering through a relative than college youth.

When asked for which type of organization they volunteered, “religious” organizations were the top choice for young people regardless of college experience. Most spend their time mentoring youth and teaching/tutoring, although young people with college experience were slightly more likely to provide professional or management assistance including serving on a board or committee.

Levine said he hopes the findings of this report motivate people to reach out to younger generations and inspire interest in civic affairs. “Given this poor economic climate and the downward trend in youth civic engagement, it is important, now more than ever, to impress upon our young people active involvement in civic life.”

The press release is available here.

CIRCLE’s new fact sheet provides a 50-state breakdown of volunteering rates for teenagers, young adults, and the population over 25. Vermont, Utah & North Dakota show the highest rates; New York and Nevada among the lowest

The fact sheet as a PDF

The press release as a PDF

Tisch College, Tufts University. – Fewer high school age (16-18) Americans stepped up to volunteer their time over the past two years, new research reveals. Traditionally, teenagers have volunteered at slightly higher rates than other age groups, but in 2007 people 25 or older were more likely to volunteer than were those 16 to 18.

These are some of the findings from a study examining youth volunteering trends from 2002 to 2007 released by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University’s Tisch College. The research presents volunteer rates by state and age groups calculated using the Current Population Survey (CPS), a joint product of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau.

Overall trends showed a 6 percentage point decline in volunteering among 16-to-18 year-olds since the rate peaked in 2005 at 33 percent. Meanwhile, volunteer rates for the population aged 19-to-25 (18 percent) and 25 years and older (28 percent) both changed very little (2 percentage points or less) since 2002.

Volunteer rates were found to vary tremendously across states and age groups, and to change from year to year. The state rates for 16-to-18 year-olds ranged from a high of 48 percent to a low of 14 percent in 2007, while in 2002 the high was 52 percent and the low 16 percent. The states with highest and lowest rates also differed for this age group. In 2007 the highest were Oregon (48 percent), Vermont (47%), Alaska and Utah (44% each). The top states in 2002 were Montana (52%), Iowa (48%) and Maryland (47%). The states with the lowest rates in 2007 were Nevada (14%),;West Virginia (15%); and New Mexico and Kentucky (18%). In 2002, Mississippi and the District of Columbia (16% each) and Tennessee (17%) were the lowest.

The state rates for college-age adults (19-to-24 year-olds) were generally lower, and again with different states leading the pack and bringing up the rear in 2002 and 2007. In 2007 the highest rates were in Utah (30%), North Dakota (29%), Maine and Washington State (28% each) and the District of Columbia (27%). While in 2002, the top states were Utah (36%) and Missouri (34%). The states with the lowest rates in 2007 were New Jersey (8%), Tennessee and Delaware (9% each). The bottom in 2002 were Massachusetts (11%), and Nevada, Tennessee and Indiana (13% each).

For the 25 and older cohort, the state volunteer rates and those with the highest and lowest rates remained relatively unchanged from 2002 to 2007. Rates in 2007 ranged from a high of 43 percent in Utah to a low of 19 percent in Nevada, Florida, New York and New Jersey. In 2002, Utah again led the pack at 49 percent and New York, Florida and Nevada had the lowest rates at 22 percent.

The study also examined the state policies impacting youth volunteering, which many researchers believe have an impact on the levels of volunteering for 16-to-18 year-olds. A Corporation for National and Community Service study found the public schools that make community service available has grown from 64 percent in 1999 to 68 percent in 2008, but those that meet the criteria for “service-learning” has declined from 32 percent in 1999 to 24 percent. Furthermore only two states, Maryland and the District of Columbia, have made volunteering a mandatory requirement to graduate from high school. Eight other states (AR, CT, DE, IA, MN, OK, RI and WI) allow service-learning activities to be counted towards high school graduation credit.

January 2009

CIRCLE releases a new paper by Constance Flanagan, Peter Levine, and Richard Settersten entitled “Civic Engagement and the Changing Transition to Adulthood” (PDF). This study, funded by the Spencer Foundation, argues that life has changed dramatically for people in their 20s. Marriage, childbearing, financial independence, and other aspects of the “transition to adulthoood” have been transformed since the 1970s, and are now very different for people with and without college educations. These changes and differences powerfully affect civic engagement. For example, it appears that younger generations have delayed voting, in much the same way that they have delayed marriage and childbearing. But young adults without college experience are permanently missing some aspects of civic engagement–such as group membership–that were common thirty years ago.

As this sample graph shows, non-college youth are less engaged than they were in the 1970s in nine out of ten forms of civic engagement.

Another graph in the report shows that they are now less engaged than their college-educated peers in all ten of these ways (including union membership). The full report contains much more data, analysis, and policy recommendations.

For more information on non-college youth,  please see CIRCLE’s latest fact sheet “Youth Demographics - Youth with No College Experience.”  The fact sheet contains information on demographic trends of young people in the United States who have no college experience, for the years between 1968 and 2007.   To download the fact sheet click here.

January 2009

The Winter edition of CIRCLE’s quarterly newsletter, Around the CIRCLE, can be downloaded from here.  The newsletter includes a variety of articles including:

-  Has “No Child Left Behind” Narrowed School Curricula?
-  CIRCLE Designs and Analyzes the 2008 Civic Health Index
-  A Closer Look at the 2008 Youth Vote

If you would like to receive a hard copy of CIRCLE’s quarterly newsletter, please send an email to Emily Hoban Kirby at Emily.Kirby@Tufts.edu with your address.

December 2008

CIRCLE releases two new working papers on underrepresented groups in volunteer service. The papers were commissioned by the Corporation for National and Community Service. Click on the paper titles below to download. A summary of the research follows.

* CIRCLE Working Paper 62 “Do Race, Ethnicity, Citizenship and Socio-economic Status Determine Civic-Engagement?”
* CIRCLE Working Paper 63 “Civic Engagement and the Disadvantaged: Challenges, Opportunities and Recommendations”
* Engaging the Poor and People of Color in Organized Service: Challenges and Opportunities: A Report of Proceedings from an Immersion Learning Session of the NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON VOLUNTEERING AND SERVICE

Working Paper Summaries: In order to support efforts to reach groups that are underrepresented in its volunteer and service programs, we present two background papers that examine rates of voluntary service and other forms of civic engagement among various subgroups of Americans. These papers were commissioned by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

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