A Holiday Rest

"Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer.  Go some distance because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen."  - Leonardo Da Vinci

I am taking Da Vinci's advice and will return to this blog in the new year. I wish everyone a wonderful holiday.

Sustainable Cities: Where 'Thinking Globally, Acting Locally' Makes Sense

The World Bank just released its Cities and Climate Change Report which states that the world's cities produce as much as 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions and will bear the brunt of climate change challenges in terms of human impact, adaptation costs, etc.  Specifically:

• The world's 50 largest cities alone have a combined population larger than the US (500 million people) and a gross domestic product (GDP) of $9.6 trillion, more than all of China and second only to the entire US economy.
• These cities are estimated to emit 2,606 million tones of GHGs, third only behind the US and China.

What an opportunity. As consensus between countries on UN climate agreements remains elusive, as legislation in the US Congress stalls, here we have an opportunity to take meaningful action at the city level. The "think globally, act locally" approach makes particular sense to me here:

It's feasible: Cities are good leverage points. They are more directly connected to their people and can be laboratories for sustainability.

It's relevant: What you or I do in our cities, in our own neighborhoods, is now globally relevant and, ideally, becomes part of a coordinated plan that scales up to meet the environmental challenges of our time.

And finally, it's personal: Not only will climate change disproportionately impact people in urban areas, but a focus on cities might be more effective at creating community and fostering civic action.

Indeed, the study concludes that "cities offer dynamism, scale, stronger linkages, and a greater sense of urgency among residents and their local leaders." I find it encouraging that, in the absence of progress at the international or national levels, we at least have a viable strategy to address a global issue at a local level.

Say More About Volunteering

My last post on NCOC's 2010 Civic Health Index generated many questions and comments about volunteering (thank you readers). Let's explore this a bit further.

What do we mean by volunteering?
Last week I mentioned that 26% of Americans volunteered in 2009, according to the NCOC report. This number captures only those who volunteer for or through an organization, such as volunteering at a food bank or tutoring at a community center. Interestingly, the most popular activities for these 62 million volunteers were fundraising, making/serving food, providing general labor and transportation services, and teaching/tutoring.

To Ryan's point, this 26% does not capture the more informal activities that many of us do, such as attend community meetings, participate in groups or provide informal consulting. NCOC's researchers looked into this and found, for instance, that 35% of American adults participate in at least one community group (a sports or civic group, through school, etc.). In addition, "neighborhood engagement" is common: almost 19 million adults worked with their neighbors last year to address a community problem without help from an organization or institution.

I find these numbers encouraging. It says to me that we have an active citizenry here in the US. Indeed, Volunteering in America (VIA) estimated a total of 8.1 billion hours of volunteer service (or 34.4 hours per resident) in 2009.

Does volunteering vary by age, race and ethnicity?
Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) are indeed our most active volunteers. Approximately 30% of them volunteer with an organization and 10% work with their neighbors on a community problem. In contrast, Generation Xers (born 1965-1981) and Millennials (born after 1981) have lower volunteer rates, 28% and 21% respectively, and lower neighborhood engagement rates, 8% and 4%. However, researchers say there's a "lifecycle of service"--that is, volunteering generally increases with age until mid-life and then starts to decrease after age 65. So it's likely that Generation Xers will soon surpass Baby Boomers as we enter our mid-years.

Volunteer rates also vary by race and ethnicity. For example, 14% of Latino/Hispanic Americans volunteer for an organization, compared to 19% of Asian and African Americans, 21% of Native Americans and 28% of Whites. (We're focused on volunteer rates here but it's worth noting that the greatest variation in civic engagement is in voting. For instance, NCOC found a 29-percentage-point difference between African American and Latino/Hispanic American voting rates in 2008).

How does volunteering compare across states?
This VIA graph shows volunteer rates across the country, from a high of 44% in Utah to a low of 19% in New York.

Interestingly, the top five states for volunteer rates are:
1. Utah
2. Iowa
3. Minnesota
4. Nebraska
5. Alaska

The top five large cities for volunteer rates are:

1. Minneapolis-St Paul, MN

2. Portland, OR

3. Salt Lake City, UT

4. Seattle, WA

5. Oklahoma City, OK

More to come...

There's a lot to digest here. Next week, I'll explore how the US compares to other countries in civic involvement.

Civic Health Index Report 2010

The National Conference on Citizenship (NCOC) recently released its 2010 Civic Health Index Report measuring Americans' participation in their communities. Key findings include:

• 26% of Americans volunteer: 1 in 3 serve through religious organizations, 1 in 4 for educational or youth-focused efforts. Volunteer rates have fallen in the past decade.
• Neighborhood engagement is high: Nearly 60% of citizens help their neighbors at least once a month, and 1 in 6 do so almost daily. 
• 57% of American residents over age 18 voted in the 2008 Presidential election but few are actively involved in other political activities. In 2008 and 2009, only 10% contacted an elected official and 15% of Americans actively supported or donated to a candidate.  
• High school graduates are more than twice as likely to vote and three times as likely to volunteer than those who didn't graduate. Those with college degrees are almost five times more likely to volunteer than high school dropouts.  
• Only 8.5% of Americans take some form of leadership role in community groups, but those that do become highly involved and participate in many forms of civic engagement: 75% of these leaders volunteer and 66% express their political voice in one or more ways. These numbers are 150-200% higher than other members of groups and 500-700% higher than citizens who are not members of any community groups.  

These findings suggest that one's educational level and sense of belonging to a community group is key to civic engagement. NCOC notes, for instance, that "social connectedness is the first building block of civic health and is generated through spending time with community members and staying informed of current events" (excerpt from executive summary).  

Perhaps this sense of connection explains why neighborhood and volunteerism is high in the US while political involvement is generally low. We can see our own impact and build ongoing relationships when we help out locally. It's more personal, more rewarding perhaps, than voting or even donating to a cause. 

Global Citizenship Resources Online

There are a number of other useful blogs and websites about global citizenship, community and civic engagement for you to explore:

1) Project Explorer's Good Global Citizen Blog:  A feed of multiple bloggers around the world, highlighting what being a global citizen means, projects underway, etc.  

2) Global Epiphany: One Person Can Make A Difference:  This website provides information on how one person can make a difference with regular updates on charities and causes around the world. 

3) Civics, Popular Media & Participation:  This blog, more academic in nature, provides research and commentary on civic engagement -- for example, on youth participation in elections, on the impact of social media, etc. 

4) The Global Citizen Project Blog:  A personal blog by an American travel writer who is volunteering on 12 community projects in 12 countries over 12 months. 

5) Grameen Foundation Blog:  Though focused on microfinance, this blog highlights the work of social entrepreneurs who are, in my view, modeling global citizenship.  

6) Ashoka Peace Blog and Ashoka Knowledge Entrepreneur Blog:  Likewise, both of these Ashoka blogs highlight social entrepreneurs around the world.  

Civic Action - Creative Session Follow-Up

I facilitated my first creative brainstorming session on civic action this weekend as part of a Seattle project called The Next Fifty.  It went very well, thanks in large part to the diversity of participants.  We had people with experience in engineering, health care, design, art, business, government, higher education, non-profit, international work, and people of various ages (from mid-30s to 60s).

Many of us may not consider ourselves to be particularly creative but it's amazing what a small group of people can come up with.  Here's just a small sample of ideas the group had:

1)  Civic passport / volunteer stamp book:  Residents earn credits or discounts from participating businesses as their volunteer hours go up.  For instance, if you volunteer enough hours, you get free tickets to a concert or discounts on your grocery, energy, phone or other bills. Your passport gets “stamped” as you volunteer.

2)  Neighborhood competitions modeled after March Madness:  Create neighborhood brackets that compete in any number of competitions, such as art, BBQ grill-offs, gardening, energy efficiency projects, etc.  One neighborhood ultimately wins the "final four" competition and is awarded with some community benefit.

3)  An "experience Seattle" treasure hunt:  Hold a city-wide treasure hunt with artifacts from Seattle's history as well as visions for our future.  This could be modeled after the Canlis Brothers’ scavenger hunt where menus were hidden throughout the city with corresponding Twitter clues.  Winners would receive prizes.

4)  Phone app for thoughtful conversations:  Create an iphone app, twitter feed or other social media mechanism to coordinate instant meet-ups where people who don't know one another can gather at local coffee shops or bars to have thoughtful conversations on some policy or community issue.  

5)  Recycled fashion show:  Designers and local residents showcase clothes made out of existing products to highlight environmental sustainability.  Or, extend this to any product from 50 years ago that can be re-purposed for something useful today.

6)  "Dive-in" movie theater:  Seattleites, known for their love of boating, could watch movies from their boats on Lake Washington.  The film series could include movies of the day and/or highlights of social movements, local residents making a difference, etc.

These are just some of the many ideas generated.  I presented the full list to the Next Fifty Civic Action Committee yesterday.  Other committee members will be doing creative sessions to brainstorm even more ideas.

As always, I welcome your ideas, including examples of what others have done to build community and inspire civic engagement.

What's After the Lean In?

Last weekend I saw the movie Waiting for Superman, which is a documentary about the public school system in the United States. It is heartbreaking. It is compelling. It is a moving call to action. When I left the movie theater, I was tearful, fired up and thinking to myself, "This is not okay. We have to do something." Full of energy, in that moment, I was leaning in.

So when I got home, I went to my computer and googled 'waiting for superman.' On its website I found different tabs such as 'donate' or 'write to your governor' or 'share your opinion.' And it's not that I don't give to charities or get involved in politics (in fact, I've even worked for a governor) but there's something missing in that moment on my computer. The options presented for how to get involved don't satisfy what I'm craving somehow; they don't provide a container large enough or impactful enough to channel this wave of energy I feel.

This is not about Waiting for Superman or their particular website (which is actually pretty good). This is about that gap, that moment between the lean in and, what I'm calling, the deflate. That is, I'm guessing that many of us have had those moments when we watched a compelling movie or saw pictures of kids in Africa or got pissed about something on the news. And at first, we're leaning in, we want to do something. But my sense is that something happens shortly thereafter (or maybe it's that something doesn't happen) that then dissipates the energy we feel.  We end up moving on with our lives.

What is that gap? What tabs or options could a website like Waiting for Superman offer that would be compelling enough to satisfy or hold this incredible energy for action? Likewise, on a macro scale, consider the 2008 election where so many Americans were moved to action. All this energy existed in our country; people who'd never gotten involved in politics were now suddenly active. But there too, we experienced a collective gap soon after (and I think the 2010 election highlights the results of that gap). So what actions, what follow-through, what container would have been big enough to channel all of that good energy in 2008? I think if we could figure out that piece, whether for specific topics like education or for much broader movements, then so many more people would get jazzed about civic engagement.

Civic Action - Creative Session in Seattle

In 2012, Seattle will celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. To mark this milestone, nearly 200 local elected officials, community leaders and partnering organizations are planning a six-month celebration called The Next Fifty. This will include exhibits, events, festivals, concerts, speakers and other experiences for residents to celebrate our city’s accomplishments and to develop a vision for the world’s future (the next fifty-plus years). The programming will highlight several themes including art/design, sustainability, science/technology, global health, learning, commerce/innovation and civic action.

As a member of the Civic Action Committee, I'm hosting an informal creative session with family and friends this weekend to brainstorm ideas on civic engagement:

“From volunteerism and philanthropy to unflagging support for community services, Seattle’s involved citizens make it a stronger city. As the world flattens, as social networking transforms communications, as grassroots initiatives are increasingly able to make change, what does social responsibility look like? How can we show up for a better world? The celebration will bring a global community together to exchange ideas and explore new models of civic action” (excerpt from planning documents).

The creative session will focus specifically on these questions:

What kinds of activities could Seattle create over a six-month period to engage and inspire local residents around civic action? Are there events, programs, festivals, challenges or other experiences that would move people to become more involved in their communities? What would draw residents of all backgrounds to participate? What would be fun or interesting for you and your family?

I welcome your thoughts as well. Your input is valuable even if you don't live in Seattle because this gets to a much broader question of how we create community wherever we live.

New Global Citizen Video

I made this YouTube global citizenship video as part of a Social Web/Social Change class at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute.



My intention with this video is to highlight the many opportunities that exist to align our passions, skills and resources to any number of needs in the world.  We can each do something.

Corporate Volunteerism

Stanley Litow, president of the IBM International Foundation and vice president of IBM corporate citizenship and affairs, advocated last week for a new model for private sector volunteerism (Freep.com post). He cites IBM's Corporate Service Corps which has one thousand IBM employees providing business consulting to local entrepreneurs, nonprofits and other organizations in 18 countries through one-month service deployments. Companies have a wealth of talented employees, he says, that we should leverage to address the social and environmental challenges of our time.

I couldn't agree more...and what if this new private sector volunteer model was geared towards customers instead of employees?

One idea my husband and I had (Litow, if you're listening?) is for businesses like IBM, Verizon, Safeway or even the local utility company to offer credits to their customers for volunteer hours served. What if, for instance, I could pay my phone bill by volunteering at a food bank? Or purchase gas by restoring a park? Today's high un- and under-employment rates, at 9 and 16 percent respectively, make it particularly hard for families to pay their bills or buy goods. Plus, community needs will only skyrocket as states cut back on programs (note that Washington State alone has a $4.5 billion budget deficit this year). So how, in these tough economic times, do we meet the needs of our families (to pay bills and buy goods, for instance) and meet the needs of our communities (to educate kids or maintain parks, for instance)?

Our proposal is to essentially create a free market for volunteer hours. In exchange for offering store credit per volunteer hour, participating companies, like IBM, would get a tax write off, recognition for community service and an opportunity to differentiate themselves from competitors (for example, I might choose to buy a computer from IBM over Dell if it offered more credits per hour). Non-profits would get an influx of volunteers, which they'll need as states cut programs, and individuals would reduce their expenses while doing meaningful community work. Imagine the sense of community we could create.

Wouldn't that be interesting?

Voter Apathy and Expectation

As I mentioned yesterday, I didn't see voter apathy at Thursday's Obama/Murray rally at the UW. On the contrary, thousands were engaged--most notably young adults. But it's interesting to compare yesterday's enthusiasm with President Obama's recent call for progressives to "buck up" (Rolling Stone article: Obama in Command): 

"It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election. There may be complaints about us not having gotten certain things done, not fast enough, making certain legislative compromises. But right now, we've got a choice between a Republican Party that has moved to the right of George Bush and is looking to lock in the same policies that got us into these disasters in the first place, versus an administration that, with some admitted warts, has been the most successful administration in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward. The idea that we've got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.... We have to get folks off the sidelines. People need to shake off this lethargy, people need to buck up. Bringing about change is hard — that's what I said during the campaign. It has been hard, and we've got some lumps to show for it. But if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place."

The following week, Rolling Stone published another article, The Case for Obama, detailing his presidential accomplishments. I recommend reading this because, irrespective of your political views or positions on specific legislation, it's hard to argue that this administration hasn't done a lot. The list is long. And, it's only been two years.  

So I wonder: Are progressive voters, for instance, apathetic or disappointed because what got done wasn't specifically to their liking? For example, according to this USA Today/Gallop poll, 79 percent of Democrats favored major health care reform in July 2009. In March 2010, Obama signed what the New York Times referred to as landmark health reform legislation--"the most expansive social legislation in decades." And yet, many remain disappointed in Obama, others outright opposed. Is that because the specifics of the bill weren't exactly what I, or what you, might have wanted? And is that fair given that our system of government is specifically designed for compromise and negotiation?

Civic Engagement in Seattle

This is a quick clip taken from my aunt's phone as we attended the Obama/Murray rally at the University of Washington today.  It was inspiring to see 10,000 people, including many college students (possibly skipping classes), so engaged.  This was the first Obama rally I've attended and the air was electric with positive energy.  How do we maintain that energy when, as President Obama said, "We are grinding it out. We are doing the hard, frustrating, inch by inch, day by day, week by week, work of bringing about change"?

Better Citizens

How can we as citizens rise to meet the challenges of our time? What's our role in shaping politics, business or government between our grocery lists, school assignments and work commutes?  

I've been particularly interested in these questions since reading Thomas Friedman's column, Advise from Grandma, in which he calls for better citizens. It's up to us, he says, not just our leaders, to step up: 

"What I increasingly fear today is that America is only able to produce “suboptimal” responses to its biggest problems — education, debt, financial regulation, health care, energy and environment. The standard answer is that we need better leaders. The real answer is that we need better citizens. We need citizens who will convey to their leaders that they are ready to sacrifice, even pay, yes, higher taxes, and will not punish politicians who ask them to do the hard things. Otherwise, folks, we’re in trouble. A great power that can only produce suboptimal responses to its biggest challenges will, in time, fade from being a great power — no matter how much imagination it generates."

So I wonder: What would better citizenry look like, particularly when today's issues seem so complex, so much bigger than any one person's ability to impact? How would I, how would we, create systemic change?  

These are the types of questions I invite you to explore with me in this blog. Because I increasingly believe that being a citizen is about being engaged in our own communities and recognizing our interconnectedness in the world; that what we purchase or who we elect or what business practices we support has implication around the globe. This is daunting, of course (how can any one of us possibly make a difference?) and it's empowering (our every day decisions can now be intentional and impactful). We indeed have an awesome opportunity to be global citizens.  

So I promise no answers within these posts but offer my journey as a starting point. Let's explore what's working out there, who's doing good work in our communities, and what fun or meaningful ways exist for individuals to experience, really experience, their impact.