NCoC: Summary: Why Minneapolis-St. Paul is the Most Engaged American Community and Miami is the Least

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Summary: Why Minneapolis-St. Paul is the Most Engaged American Community and Miami is the Least

Tale of Two Cities: Civic Health in Miami and Minneapolis-St. Paul

January 24, 2011

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The annual Current Population Survey (CPS), conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, represents the most ambitious effort in the history of the United States to measure “civic engagement.” It provides data on volunteering, voting, membership in voluntary groups and associations, exchanging favors with neighbors, use of the news media, discussion of current events, and everyday forms of sociability, such as entertaining friends. These are measures of civic health, social capital, or the strength of civil society. In much previous research, they have been found to predict the performance of public institutions, the economic success of communities, and even individuals’ health and well-being.4

According to these measures, Minneapolis-St. Paul is the most civically engaged metropolitan area In the United States; Miami is the least engaged. The two metropolitan areas differ in many other ways, too: in the demographics of their populations, the history of their development, and even their climate and location. But this study will show that demographics cannot explain the differences in their civic engagement. For example, in both communities (as elsewhere in the United States), people with more education and income tend to engage more in civic affairs. But individuals in Minneapolis-St. Paul who are in the lowest income group are more likely to volunteer, attend public meetings, work with neighbors, participate in politics outside of elections, and participate in associations than are people in the wealthiest tier in Miami. An individual with a high school education in Minneapolis-St. Paul is about as likely to be engaged as an individual with a college education in Miami. That means that the somewhat higher levels of income and educational attainment in the Twin Cities cannot explain why that community is so much more civically engaged.

The CPS does not measure everything. It is not designed to tell us about the content of civic experiences: what people do when they volunteer or join groups. Nor does it reveal their values, motivations, and goals. Finally, it measures only unpaid, voluntary acts, from voting to volunteering. People can also be active citizens as part of their paid work. To name just one example, the Minneapolis Police Department won the 2009 International Association of Chiefs of Police/CISCO Community Policing Award for large cities. Its prize citation noted Minneapolis’ 30 years of experience with community policing. In community policing, police ofﬁcers work with civic groups and citizens to develop local strategies to prevent crime.5 Police ofﬁcers collaborating with citizens as part of their jobs is not measured as “civic engagement” by surveys (such as the CPS) that focus only on unpaid efforts.

In this report, we argue that the civic gap between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Miami cannot be explained simply in terms of economic or demographic differences, but reﬂects divergent attitudes toward citizenship and public work that permeate these metropolitan areas’ institutions (public, nonproﬁt, and private) and that cause them to use different strategies and practices on a daily basis. In short, the civic culture of Minneapolis-St. Paul is oriented toward enlisting and empowering diverse people—paid employees as well as volunteers—in the common work of shaping the area’s future without abandoning their own cultural backgrounds and values. This culture of civic empowerment generates a widespread sense of optimism that people can shape their common future. Those norms are less evident in the Miami area, which appears to be more balkanized and less reliant on citizens to create a common future.

Preface • A Snapshot of Miami and Minneapolis-St. Paul

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