“It's a constantly moving cycle.” — Community–conversation participant

There is a dimension of civic health not connected to the official things people do, but with all the unofcial things they do in relation to one another. Communicating by phone or email with friends, eating dinner together with family, talking with others on the block — all these social connections contribute to the civic health of a community.

Some members of the community even help one another, exchanging favors such as trading childcare or mowing each other's lawns. These kinds of informal interactions increase the bonds in a community and increase its civic health. Similarly, having relatively weak social connections can reduce the civic health in a community.

While Maryland is relatively strong in terms of the degree with which residents interact with one another on issues, when it comes to more informal social connections the story is more mixed.

Maryland ranks 27th in the rate of people 18 and older who exchange favors with their neighbors, with the rate of 16.6%. Nationwide, 16.0% of Americans say they exchange favors with their neighbors at least a few times a week. One community–conversation participant who spoke frequently with neighbors provided a positive assessment: “There are a lot of opportunities to [be] a good neighbor here,” the participant said. “There are lots of opportunities to help one another out.”

Among Marylanders, being socially connected (that is, people who say they talk with neighbors, communicate with friends and family, or eat dinner with family) tends to correlate with much higher rates of volunteering. Four in ten (41.3%) Marylanders who are socially connected also report volunteering, compared with 20.7% of those who are not socially connected.

Recently having been through a number of remarkable weather events that created regional dislocations (two snow storms and a wind– and rain–storm that left many without power for days), many community–conversation participants pointed to the bonding effect that such experiences can have. “The snowstorm . . . really showed how we worked together and helped one another out,” said one participant.

Maryland is slightly ahead of the national rate when it comes to just talking with neighbors. Half (50.3%) of Marylanders say they talk with neighbors at least a few times per week (compared with 45.8% nationally).

When it comes to using the Internet to connect, Maryland is well ahead of the other states. More than six in ten (60.8%) Marylanders say they talk with friends and family using the Internet (versus 53.6% nationally).

Good news notwithstanding, community conversations revealed that many Marylanders feel overstretched and say it is difcult to nd the time or energy to connect with neighbors. “I don't know any of my neighbors,” said one participant. “I just sleep and eat there.” For many, the time pressures arise from work. On a national level, in fact, employed Americans are less likely to be connected to family or neighbors and exchange favors with others (14.2%) than are unemployed Americans (18.7%). In Maryland, 14.9% employed people are connected with others and also exchange favors.

Even when it comes to family, Marylanders in community conversations expressed difculty and the data bear this out. Maryland ranks 47th in the rate of people 18 and older who say that they eat dinner with their family at least a few times a week, with the rate of 86.8% (compared with 89.1% nationally).

For many community–conversation participants, the logistical realities of work can be too pressing. “People move around so much and so quickly, it's a constantly moving cycle,” said one. “I live in one county and I [work] in another; until I had kids I didn't know a thing about where I lived,” said another.

Others in community conversations painted a dire picture of our abilities and inclinations to connect with others. “The values of society are changing. People are becoming more self–centered, not civic–minded,” said one. Another community–conversation participant put a ne point on a psychological barrier that some may have when it comes to engaging with others: “We're terried of each other; unless you live in an old neighborhood you don't have a front porch; beyond being terried of each other we don't know how to interact,” the participant said.

However, when it comes to social connectedness, education appears to make little difference. This is signicant because in almost all other indicators of civic health, greater educational attainment is connected to the likelihood of being civically engaged (especially when it comes to those with college experience vs. those with no college experience). While 15.3% of Marylanders with no college experience are socially connected and also exchange favors with neighbors, 16.9% of Marylanders with college experience are socially connected and do favors for neighbors.

From the Civic Literacy Summit:
Participants at the Civic Literacy Summit made recommendations focused on the need to provide spaces for people to interact in the community as well as to make it psychologically easier to do so.

Summit participants also saw there are many ways to be of help to others in the community that might not be captured in the data (for instance, being available as an emergency resource for neighborhood kids is important, yet might not be reported in a survey as it is not tangible). The Summit workgroup on social connections made these recommendations:

• Schools, business leaders, and churches should hold community conversations, not only for their own organizational goals but also to open space for people to be a community

• Teach helping others as a way of life by example, both by offering help frequently and by reaching out for help when needed

• Host more all–community events where people can interact informally (e.g. community BBQ)