Society needs leaders with well–developed skills. Leaders take a more active role in civil society and traditionally show greater capacity and confidence in civic engagement. A society with leaders who have well–honed civic skills results in a stronger participatory democracy. For purposes of this report, to be considered a leader, a person must have been an ofcer or served on a committee of any group or organization in the last twelve months.

In Illinois, 9.9% of residents attend meetings, belong to an organization, and take a leadership role in the community. Leaders, comprising 8.5% of Americans overall, are highly engaged in all forms of civic engagement, at levels far above those of group participants and non–participants alike.

The following national trends form a picture of what leadership looks like, and they mirror Illinois trends. Educational attainment has a strong correlation to leadership, and therefore to civic participation. Only 3.5% of Americans 25 or older with no college experience are leaders, compared with 13.5% of those who have college experience. Furthermore, though 57.0% of Americans have college experience, they make up 83% of leaders. In other words, Americans without college experience are severely underrepresented in leadership roles in communities across the U.S.

The differences between leaders and non–participants are large in all indicators, and the gap is especially large in types of civic engagement that take more commitment and skills, such as working with neighbors to improve the community and expressing political voice. In fact, two–thirds (67%) of leaders express political voice in one or more ways, in strong contrast to the rate of 13.7% among non–participants and even 42.4% among group participants. The rate of volunteering is strongly correlated with the degree of participation in groups: Leaders volunteer at a rate of 75%, compared with 42% of group participants and 15% of non–participants who volunteer.

Nationally, 27.7% of leaders, compared with 12.9% of group participants and 4.0% of non–participants, worked with neighbors to x something in the community. Leaders were also about 50.0% more likely to vote in the November 2008 Presidential election compared to non–participants. It is clear that greater participation in civil society is highly predictive of civic behaviors. This makes sense, as formal membership, and especially taking a leadership role, generally provide people with ample opportunities to serve the community and work with others. Illinois follows this clear trend: Greater than one in ve non–participants volunteer. Having group afliation alone is also related to higher volunteering rates in Illinois.