“ Who's going to carry the torch? ” — Community–conversation participant

Organizations such as churches, neighborhood associations, service clubs and more are the backbone of our communities. Without such organizations, many services and programs that people depend on would not happen.

One measure of a community's civic health is how many people belong to groups and organizations. And, of these members, how many can be considered “leaders,” holding an official position with the group.

In most communities, people who take part in one organization are much more likely to be members of another, or to be leaders.

Maryland ranks 15th among states in the rate of people 18 and older who belong to religious, neighborhood, school, or sports groups in their communities, with a rate of 40.0%. This outstrips the national rate of group membership of 35.1%.

Just belonging to an organized group is one important step in civic life and contributes to a community's civic health. However, there are further steps that can be taken. One such important step is to actually show up to meetings. While fewer Marylanders show up than are group members, the share of people who do so remains ahead of the national share. In Maryland, 24.8% of adults say they have attended a meeting of a group or organization in the past twelve months, while just 21.5% say so nationally.

In other words, roughly one in four Marylanders says they attend one or more group meetings per year. This is cause to be optimistic, yet in communities this often translates into a sense that there aren't enough people willing to step forward. “In our community, it's a small amount of people who get in there and really do help,” said one community–conversation participant. “In our PTA, we have high membership, but the same group always shows up,” agreed another.

There is a generational component to group membership and activities. Maryland's Millennial Generation (those born 1981 or later) is least likely to attend public meetings (96.4% did not in the previous 12 months) or to have worked with others to x something in their neighborhood. Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964), on the other hand, are most likely to have worked with others to x something in the neighborhood (13.7% say they did).

Local groups typically depend on their membership rolls to nd leaders to serve in key positions and make sure the groups can function. In Maryland, 11.1% of people say they have taken on a leadership role in an organization by serving as an ofcer or serving on a committee of an organization. (This compares to 10.1% nationally.)

Just being a member of an organization tends to make an individual more likely to be engaged in other ways. Marylanders in leadership positions are even more likely to participate. For example, among organization leaders in Maryland, more than 90% say they also volunteer, compared with just 22% of Marylanders who do not belong to groups at all.

Education –— especially college — has a strong correlation to leadership. While 11.1% of Marylanders say they serve in a leadership capacity for an organization, among Marylanders with college experience the share jumps to 14.9%. What's more, while 62.5% of Marylanders have college experience, they make up 86.6% of leaders.

Being a leader also correlates strongly to whether a person participates in politics in ways beyond voting, especially when leaders are compared with people who do not participate in groups. In Maryland, 70.4% of leaders express their political voice in ways beyond voting, while just 12.9% of nonparticipants do so. (Among people who participate in groups but not as leaders, the share is 39.6%.) Leaders are more likely to vote in Maryland, at a rate of 96.2% in 2008, compared with 69.0% of people who do not participate in groups.

With just over one in ten Marylanders stepping into group leadership roles, some community–conversation participants expressed concern. “No one ever wants to be the PTA president,” lamented one. “Who's going to carry the torch?” asked another. “It doesn't seem like people are inspired to carry the torch.”

From the Civic Literacy Summit: Participants at the Civic Literacy Summit made recommendations focused on connecting existing networks and resources with community groups. For instance, one recommendation focused on linking the needs of organizations with members of the business community who may be looking for avenues to donate time or money.

Summit participants also thought structurally about ways to make individual involvement more likely. The Summit workgroup on group participation made these recommendations:

• Connect funding and resource needs of groups to organizations and businesses looking to give
• Facilitate partnerships between schools and local community organizations
• Require residential developers to think broadly and intentionally about the civic impact of their work (i.e. building community centers, parks, and bike or walking paths).