Batten Survey Results Slideshow (21 Pgs)

Batten Surveys A regional Civic Capital Assessment Thank you, Jane P. Batten The citizen leader who made this possible Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Purpose  Democracy Matters  Citizens have responsibilities  Public officials have responsibilities  Communities are collectively responsible  What should we be doing? Working together to define our future Quality of Life  What will this get us? Regions with healthy civic capital – are more Economically Competitive  This project aimed to measure the present state of our civic health Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Methodology  To assess the civic health of Hampton Roads we looked at:  Civic values  Civic skills  Civic infrastructure  Representative survey of 1,997 adult residents across the sixteen cities and counties of Hampton Roads – The Batten Civic Health Survey  Focused interviews with four dozen regional civic leaders and elected officials – The Batten Interviews  Focused interviews with a dozen engaged youth – WHRO Center for Regional Citizenship Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Assessing Our Region  Three Big Questions:  Are Citizens – elected officials, public servants, civic activists, and citizens generally – interested, willing, and ready for civic engagement?  Is the Information needed for civic engagement accessible, communicated and sought out?  Is there a good decision making Process in place? Do all the parties know what to do and when to do it? Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Citizens Don't know Not at all Very interested 2% interested Not very 26% 11% interested Interest in participating 18% …citizens say  Strong majority are somewhat or very interested in working with others to solve regional issues Somewhat interested 43% Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Citizens Participating…citizens say:  Citizens are actively involved in their communities across a wide spectrum of areas, but charity and religious participation stand out  Citizens take a wide variety of political actions  Citizens are civically engage in a wide variety of ways, but “discussion” and donations to charity and service stand out Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Citizens Civic & 17 service clubs 23 Work-related 27 Public affairs 29 Social 30 Arts & culture 35 Education Support 36 groups Athletic/recrea 38 tion 52 Charity 70 Religion 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 % Participation - Last Twelve Months Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Citizens 20 Attended local government meeting 29 Expressed opinion using online media 35 Contacted local govt to express opinion 40 Showed support for candidate/issue 70 Visited municipal web site or TV channel 92 Voted in any election 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 % Participation - Last Twelve M onths Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Citizens 34 Donated to local politics cause 37 Attended neigborhood meeting 37 Discussed issues with strangers 38 Worked with others to solve problems 77 Donated to charity/service 82 Discussed issues with neighbors 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 % Participation - Last Twelve M onths Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Citizens Educate themselves Citizen’s Role…civic Participate (e.g. attend forums, leaders say citizens online discussions) should … Take action (e.g. letters to  Educate themselves editor, email local and regional govt. and groups) on the issues Create a regional advocacy group  Participate when invited Demand better civic engagement  Let their views be known Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Information Information…citizens say: Somewhat closely on all issues  Almost two-thirds 37% follow news about local government Mostly those of my city/county and public affairs 12% somewhat or very closely Mostly those Very closely on all affecting my life issues and work Don't pay 26% 12% attention to govt/public affairs news 13% Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Information 17 Newspaper Information…citizens 11 Television 6 say: Government 6 Media (unspecified)  Information is found 4 Internet in a wide variety of 2 Personal contacts 1 Radio sources…but almost 1 Civic groups 40% say there is no 1 Church/Bible/God reliable source or 13 Other/Don't know 26 don’t know if there is There are no reliable sources 13 Don't know if there are reliable sources a reliable source for 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 information % Mentions Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Information Information…youth say:  Youth say internet is an easy source of information, but are skeptical of its reliability  Youth emphasize responsibility of individual in researching topic from multiple sources Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Process Process…citizens say:  Two-thirds of citizens do not feel that their local Don't know government invites citizen 2% input Yes 36% No 62% Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Process Process…citizens say: Local government 6.50 employees  Citizens have a Local television 6.34 moderate level of news trust in local 6.11 Local school board municipal employees, Local daily 5.84 school boards, and newspaper Local elected television news, but 5.65 representatives are more tentative Elected state 5.63 representatives towards local 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 newspapers and Low Trust High Trust elected officials Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Process Process…in open-ended question citizens say:  Citizen say top 28 Economy 21 Transportation regional priorities are 10 Education economy, 4 Crime 2 Taxes transportation, and 2 Military jobs education 1 Environment 1 Racial reconciliation 1 Healthcare 1 Growth/sprawl 23 Other 6 Don't know 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 % Mentions Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Process Most Important Hampton Roads Regional Issues Process…in open Transportation Regionalism ended question Economy Education Infrastructure civic leaders say: Civic Engagement Competiveness  Civic leaders say top Quality of Life Environment Water regional issues are Military Presence Public Health transportation, Trust regionalism, the economy Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Process Process…youth say:  Youth say top regional issues are transportation, education, the economy  One engaged youth said transportation was the problem that could “unify” Hampton Roads… Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

What We Find This study points to the following:  Disconnectedness…citizens say they don’t feel invited, civic leaders want citizens to participate more…  Paradoxes…we seem to agree on the major issues, and we seem to want to solve our regional problems - but we know that because of this study - what we lack is a means by which we come together as a region to work on these problems, together…  Opportunities…the civic capital of Hampton Roads is plentiful…our job is cultivate it Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

What We Hope For  We hope to begin a regional conversation about where we are, where we want to be, and what will be required to get there Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Closing Thoughts, from our Youth Hampton Roads Civic Engagement Summit 2009

Batten Survey Results Slideshow (21 Pgs)

by Hampton Roads: America's First Region on Apr 14, 2009

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Batten Survey Results Slideshow (21 Pgs) — Presentation Transcript