At the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation we believe that civic engagement and community attachment are critical to building communities that thrive. That’s why we were honored to team up this year with the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) to explore these connections further and release a new study showing that communities with a strong civic foundation have weathered the economic recession better than those without.

The report, Civic Health and Unemployment II: The Case Builds identifies two aspects of civic health that matter most in preventing unemployment: the presence of a significant nonprofit sector, defined as the number of nonprofits per capita in each community; and social cohesion, the level at which citizens trust, talk to and help neighbors, and socialize with family and friends.

Concluding that each of these factors is valuable in preventing unemployment increases, the report also suggests that taken together, these factors strengthen the economic immune system of a community, helping it to avoid severe increases in unemployment.

The 10 states that scored the best on both measures had unemployment rates of 6.5 percent in 2010, compared to 10.8 percent unemployment in the lowest-scoring states.

The research was formally released at the 67th Annual National Conference on Citizenship , convened by NCoC on September 14th in Philadelphia. It was an inspiring and thought-provoking day as we delved deep into the theme of Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: Exploring the Link Between Civic Engagement and Employment. We looked at what the results meant for the government and civic organizations during a panel discussion with John Bridgeland, CEO of Civic Enterprises; Peter Levine, Director of CIRCLE; Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation of National and Community Service; and Federal Reserve Board Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin.

According to Governor Raskin, while most unemployment has been cyclical or related to the performance of the economy, there is a structural element to the jobless rate as well. Civic engagement may be a “buffer” to this structural unemployment, she said, and it acts as a “softening agent” for unemployment.

We couldn’t agree more.

The new NCoC research expands upon existing initiatives. Knight Foundation, in partnership with Gallup, produced the Soul of the Community Project which explored what drives an individual’s attachment to their community—finding that key drivers such as social offerings, aesthetics, and openness yield more attached communities, which are in turn more prosperous economically. In 2011, NCoC and partners produced a Civic Health and Unemployment issue brief, which offered preliminary findings on the connections between civic engagement and economic resilience.

With this year’s exploration, it is even clearer that two different forms of civic health serve as protective factors against unemployment: social cohesion and nonprofit infrastructure.

Both involve peer-to-peer communication, cooperation, and solidarity or caring for neighbors. That combination seems important for avoiding the worst effects of an economic crisis at the community level. Being engaged with fellow citizens and participating with nonprofits can build these habits of mind, which, in turn, make individuals more likely to spend, invest, collaborate, and address problems in their own communities.

We hope that this research illuminates the critical roles of community attachment and civic health to economic vitality. None of it is possible without your participation. The benefits are now clear. Building a strong civic foundation in our own communities is now in our hands.