Civic Health Highlights

THE CONTEXT

KEY TRENDS AND FINDINGS

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND INNOVATIONS 2002 - 2004

REMAINING CHALLENGES

COMPETITION

THE CONTEXT 

Civic health refers to civil society - the institutions, relationships, and everyday behaviors that build community for the common good outside of the formal private and public sectors.  Civil society encompasses the ways in which individuals and groups connect, engage with ideas and institutions, exhibit leadership, and express their preferences and interests through electoral politics.  It reflects the ways in which groups within a community relate to one another.  Boston today is "majority-minority" and more than 25% foreign-born. More than 100 ethnicities are represented in Boston's neighborhoods and 140 languages spoken in its homes. Empty nesters and Baby Boomers are among Boston's fastest-growing population segments, as are seniors over 85.  Boston also has a large gay and lesbian population. And about 125,000 students - many of them from other nations - are enrolled in Boston's colleges and universities, adding their youth, diversity and dynamism to Boston's civic mosaic.

A strong indicator of a community's civic health is the strength of its "third sector" - voluntary, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations - as a primary vehicle for the expression of democratic values, charitable giving, social justice, access and opportunity.  Several thousand active nonprofit organizations constitute Boston's "third sector" - ranging from leadership programs, advocacy organizations and service providers to civic associations, and world-class hospitals, universities and museums. Every Boston neighborhood also has access to a vast public library system through its own staffed and networked library.  

An increasing number of initiatives aim to open Boston's mainstream civic culture to immigrants, people of color and young people - and the city has numerous venues for public discourse and the open exchange of diverse viewpoints. Boston's high level of political and civic engagement, from its founding in 1630 to the present, is a reflection of the city's longstanding tradition of civic activism and innovation at every level of civic life - from neighborhood associations to international initiatives.  Residents of a state capital in which the world's oldest in-use Constitution still holds sway, Bostonians hold unparalleled opportunities to actively engage in civic and political life and to inspire government and civic institutions to work together to address critical issues. 

For an in-depth background and historical context, download a pdf of the Civic Health section of the 2000 Boston Indicators Report.

KEY TRENDS AND FINDINGS

Changing demographics are revitalizing Boston's neighborhoods and increasing its cultural vibrancy.  Over the past several decades, Boston has grown in size largely through foreign immigration.  Between 1990 and 2000, while Boston added about 14,000 residents overall, more than 59,000 recent immigrants became New Bostonians, helping to make Boston one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, with an increasing wealth of ethnicities represented within each major racial group.

The nation's largest age cohort, Baby Boomers - those born between 1946 and 1964 - now hold most of the leadership positions in Greater Boston and have become the de facto stewards of the region.  With major new challenges facing the city and the region - from increasing external competition to the loss of local business headquarters to a fragmented civic culture and increasing costs and income inequality - the decisions made by Baby Boomers will set the stage for Greater Boston's prospects in the 21st century.

Greater Boston's civic culture has been identified as fractious, exclusionary and "lacking the collaborative gene."  Following a major scan of the region, the report Boston Unbound found that Greater Boston - unlike many of its competitor regions in the US - is hobbled by a competitive, fragmented and parochial civic culture that does not promote collaborative problem-solving, the mentoring and inclusion of new leadership, or the integration of best practices from elsewhere.  The authors of the report cite the need for more inclusive civic structures with new and more diverse leadership on issues of critical importance to the city and region as well as for the region's major nonprofit institutions - in particular universities and hospitals - to play a greater civic leadership role.

The loss of major business leaders is stimulating new leadership from Boston's nonprofit sector.  With the recent acquisition of FleetBoston Financial by Bank of America and John Hancock Financial Services by Manulife compounded by business losses and consolidation in the 1990s, there is growing agreement about the critical importance of Boston's permanent assets - its universities, hospitals, and cultural institutions - in regional decision-making.  Examples of this new civic leadership paradigm are the appointment of the first hospital leader to serve as chairman of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the focus of the current Goldberg Seminar on the role and impact of institutions of higher education in Greater Boston.

While visitors and new residents of all ages and backgrounds can find the city's civic and cultural life difficult to navigate, efforts are underway to make Boston more welcoming.  A number of initiatives are designed to make Boston more welcoming to newcomers and to build common ground with the 33% of Boston residents who speak a language other than English at home:

• Since 1998, the Mayor's Office of New Bostonians, a department of city government, offers free immigration consulting clinics, celebrates Boston's diversity through "New Bostonians Community Day," and is launching the "New Bostonians Vote Campaign" to increase civic participation in the immigrant community.  The Office also engages in advocacy on priority issues for newcomer immigrants such as increasing access to ESOL classes through the English for New Bostonians Project.
• The International Institute of Boston offers numerous programs to help immigrants and refugees successfully integrate into Boston through ESOL classes, resettlement advising, training and employment services, and social and legal services.
• The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) engages in policy analysis, advocacy, and organizing on behalf of immigrant newcomers.
• The Leadership to Improve Neighborhood Communication and Services (LINCS) program of Allston-Brighton Healthy Boston Coalition has provided previously isolated residents training in community organizing, leadership development, and ESOL classes, prioritizing participation for the immigrant community of Allston-Brighton.

Additional proposals to make Boston more welcoming include initiatives that are encouraging residents to talk with visitors and new neighbors, plans to expand the use of universal design in development by installing multilingual signage at Logan Airport and key points throughout the city, and efforts to increase the number of English as a Second Language classes. (see indicator 1.7)

In the region's predominant knowledge economy, those with more education are making dramatic gains, while those with less education are falling behind.  During the 1990s in Boston - as in the nation as a whole - those with a Bachelors degree or higher saw income gains of more than 20%, while the incomes of those with less education were stagnant or falling. State efforts to more equitably distribute education funding across high- and low-income municipalities seek to offset this trend in the long term, but income inequality in the City and region has increased steadily over the past 40 years as Greater Boston moved from a manufacturing to knowledge-based economy.  A 2002 study of racial disparities in income, conducted by Business First, ranked Metro Boston close to the middle among 47 metropolitan areas across the nation, with black income at about 63% of white income.

Race relations in Boston are improving, but much work remains to change national perceptions.  Although local perspectives are changing, negative national perceptions due to Boston's racially charged past persist. A Partnership survey of Boston's professionals of color finds that 94% believe that professionals of color from beyond the Greater Boston area view Boston negatively. However, Boston-based professionals of color have a much more positive view of the area, with over 53% of survey respondents ranking their quality of life in Boston as "very good," and the same percentage indicating that the quality of life for themselves and other professionals of color will continue to improve. The City-Wide Dialogues on Boston's Ethnic & Racial Diversity, organized by a diverse coalition, are deepening the discourse on racial issues by bringing together diverse Boston residents in small groups throughout the city to engage in multi-session, facilitated dialogues.

Greater Boston's inner core communities are becoming more diverse, but residential segregation in the region persists.  In a 2004 study, Boston at the Crossroads: Racial Trends in the Metropolitan Region in the 1990s and Beyond,  Professor Guy Stuart of the Harvard Kennedy School measured segregation of racial/ethnic groups, finding that:

• Greater Boston's non-white and Latino populations grew in the 1990s, while the white population in the region fell from 87% in 1990 to 81% in 2000.  Still, the region's 81% white population is large compared with the 66% white population in Metro America in 2000.
• Greater Boston's minority population is extremely diverse, with roughly equal numbers of blacks, Latinos and Asians, with differences in country of origin making each group highly heterogeneous.
• Despite some growth and dispersion in the 1990s of the region's non-white and Latino residents, many of Greater Boston's non-whites and Latinos remain concentrated in large satellite cities such as Attleboro, Brockton, Fall River, Lawrence, Lowell, New Bedford and Worcester, and on particular blocks within those cities and towns.
• While the study suggests a classic pattern of "white flight," increasing racial/ethnic diversity in the region's urban core communities of Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Lynn, Malden, Somerville and Waltham suggests that integration is possible in the region's segregated satellite cities and suburbs through efforts to address high housing costs and a lack of affordable housing.

Longer commutes, fewer neighborhood schools, new technology and entertainment media, and increasing job demands have all contributed to a long-term decline in civic participation.  Robert Putnam's 2000 book, Bowling Alone, suggests that for every 10 minutes of additional commuting time, there is a corresponding 10% decline in all forms of social interaction, including civic participation and associative activities.  A 2004 MassINC report, Mass.Commuting, revealed that 64% of people in Greater Boston drive alone to work and that in 2000, 20.1% of Greater Boston commuters experienced a commute of 45 of more minutes, up from 14.5% in 1990. The average commuter in Massachusetts spends 27 minutes traveling each way, the equivalent of 25 eight-hour workdays consumed each year by commuting.  The report finds that this increase in commute time is largely due to workers trading away shorter commutes to buy more affordable and desirable homes, suggesting that efforts to address housing prices and the high cost of living in core employment areas may have a positive effect on civic association.

While groups like Boston Cares show through its volunteer membership signs that volunteerism in Greater Boston may be increasing, the Bay State's volunteerism rate still ranks slightly below average nationally.  A study by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that volunteerism in Massachusetts rose slightly from 2002 to 2003 from 19% to 20% for 16-24 year olds and 24% to 27% for those 25 years and older. In 2002, Boston Cares, a clearinghouse for people who would like to work on a community project on a one-time or continuing basis, had almost 6,000 active members, 70% of whom live in Boston. Boston Cares' projects rose from 30 in 1992 to 1,070 in 2001, and volunteer hours from 267 in 1992 to 13,359 in 2001.  In addition, many other programs exist in Boston to increase involvement in volunteer service:

• Boston Cares, in addition to its calendar program of 150 volunteer projects each month, operates "Boston's Young Active Hands!" to offer team-oriented opportunities for students and families to engage in community service that fit their lifestyles, schedules, and interests; and Citizens Academy to provide opportunities for individuals to learn more about contemporary social issues and move from volunteer service to intentional citizenship.
• Local chapters of national programs run by YouthBuild, City Year, AmeriCorps, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and Experience Corps are involving large numbers of volunteers of all ages from youth to older and retired persons in a variety of volunteer activities that include building affordable housing, working in the public schools and mentoring and tutoring youth.
• Boston Partners in Education trains and places more than 1,300 volunteers annually in nearly 100 Boston Public Schools, including participating corporations' employees and individuals.
• Volunteer Solutions Boston, accessed through the United Way of the Massachusetts Bay website, is a web-based search engine for volunteer and unpaid job opportunities.

While leadership in Greater Boston remains largely middle-aged or older, white and male, progress is being made almost daily in diversifying decision-making tables in civic and political life.  With high-profile city- and county-wide elections resulting in more demographically representative elected leadership, Boston's 13-member Boston City Council includes only two women, about 15%, and three councilors of color, about 23%, though there are six councilors under 40.  Boston's delegation to the Massachusetts Legislature includes 17 state representatives and six senators.  There are four women representatives and two women senators.  There are also five representatives and two senators of color.  In addition, women have assumed slightly more corporate board positions in the last year in Greater Boston, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the first time appointed a woman as president, setting a high bar for other area universities in developing candidate pools.

New or newly revitalized initiatives are empowering young people as active citizens through skills and leadership development, community service, and civics education:

• The Boston Centers for Youth and Families - the consolidation of the Boston Community Centers, the Boston 2:00 to 6:00 After-School Initiative, the Mayor's Office of Community Partnerships, and the Recreation Division of the City's Parks and Recreation Department - is an effort by the City of Boston to streamline many of the city's youth and human services functions to improve the level of services to Boston families.
• The Dorchester Youth Collaborative operates a Center for Urban Expression as a "safe haven" drop-in center, providing evening meals, counseling, recreational activities, jobs, media arts, creative fun and challenging opportunities to promote youth development, self worth and a sense of belonging.
• Boston Cares "Boston's Young Active Hands!"  offers team-oriented opportunities for students and families to engage in community service that fit their lifestyles, schedules, and interests.
• The Center for Teen Empowerment operates six sites at both schools in the community to work with a diverse group of 10-12 youth who are hired as youth organizers for the duration of the school year. Youth identify those issues they consider most critical in their school or community, design an action strategy that will involve others in having a positive impact on these issues, and implement the strategy.
• Agents of Change is a month-long, summer leadership development program run by EnVision Leadership at Northeastern University that empowers a diverse team of high school students with leadership skills, mentorship, an internship opportunity, and resources to lead action projects in the community.

The growing number of nonprofits organizations in the region - evidence of civic vitality - face increased competition for public and philanthropic funding.   A 2005 MassINC report, The Massachusetts Nonprofit Sector: An Economic Profile, found that Bay State nonprofits tend to be young organizations - nearly three-quarters are less than 25 years old.  One-fifth of these organizations initially filed for nonprofit status with the IRS after 2000.  From 1999 to 2004, the number of nonprofits in Suffolk County - the most urban of the state's 14 counties - grew by almost 15% to 4,940, the slowest growth rate in the number of the nonprofits in the state.  The nonprofit sector in nearby suburban Norfolk and Middlesex counties reported some of the highest growth rates in the state, at 57% and 38% respectively. In 2004, Massachusetts nonprofits held state government contracts worth more than $2.5 billion for the delivery of social services. But shrinking public and philanthropic funding sources signals concern for nonprofits' dependency on program services and contracts, which accounts for two-thirds of all public charity revenue.

Technology is democratizing access to information in the public arena, yet mainstream media are controlled by increasingly consolidated interests.  Free WiFi zones in communal areas are democratizing access to the internet.  (see Technology)  In addition, countervailing trends in the media are also shaping the way Bostonians access information: increasing diversity in ethnic, independent, neighborhood-based and new technology media is counterbalanced by the fact that mainstream media are controlled by increasingly fewer people.

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND INNOVATION 2002 - 2004

Attracting 35,000 delegates, media representatives and guests to Boston, the Democratic National Convention was a major civic undertaking that brought together the leadership of a broad array of community stakeholders and focused the national spotlight on Boston. Reflecting efforts to highlight Boston's increasing diversity, the 2004 Democratic National Convention was the most diverse in party history. Almost 40% of delegates were minorities and 50% were women.

Recent electoral victories reflect the "New Boston."  Higher rates of voter registration and participation in historically disenfranchised communities and cross-racial voting produced large winning margins for Felix Arroyo in 2003 and Andrea Cabral in 2004 - heralding the emergence of the "New Boston."  Building on unprecedented 2002 levels of voter participation, community-based organizations supported by the Boston Foundation-sponsored Civic Engagement Initiative turned out impressive numbers of voters in traditionally low-voting districts in 2004.  Thanks to the Civic Engagement Initiative and the work of groups like MassVOTE, voter turnout in Boston increased by more than 9% between the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, including double digit increases in Dorchester, Mattapan and Jamaica Plain (see indicator 1.4.1).  The announcement of a Korean American running as the first Asian candidate for Boston City Council provided additional evidence of Boston's increasingly diverse political landscape.

Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to allow gay marriage, a groundbreaking and controversial decision that was implemented without major civic conflict. On February 4, 2004, the Massachusetts Supreme Court handed down a 4-3 ruling that only full marriage rights for gay couples, not civil unions, would conform to the state's constitution. The Massachusetts Constitution, written by John Adams, is the oldest continuously-in-use constitution in the world, and was used in the late 18th century as the basis to abolish slavery in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The gay marriage decision is an affirmation of Boston's vibrant gay and lesbian community and the state's commitment to nurturing an open environment that welcomes members of the "creative class."

Established leadership development programs such as LEAD Boston, a program of the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) and the Emerging Leaders Program at UMass-Boston were joined by a host of new programs designed to nurture, mentor and connect future civic leaders:

• LiNC Boston, a network of emerging nonprofit leaders in Greater Boston, has sponsored learning circles for peer learning and mentoring, leadership showcases to engage and learn from inspiring nonprofit leaders, and connections within and beyond the nonprofit sector.
• The Commonwealth Legislative Seminar provides in-depth training on legislative advocacy to leaders from communities of color and immigrant communities to open the doors of the State House to everyone.
• City Year Boston's Alumni chapter connect the large number of Corps members who have finished the program in an active network of civically engaged leaders.
• The Civic Leadership Institute of Boston Cares' Citizen Academy is a yearlong program designed to equip Civic Leadership Fellows with the leadership skills and tools they need to make change in their communities in four areas: Nonprofit Board Membership; Issue Advocacy; Philanthropy/Fundraising; and Political Action. 

Groundbreaking new organizations and initiatives were formed to strengthen social capital in Boston and the region and to expand the power to effect social change:

• Social Capital, Inc., started in Woburn and now operates a site in Dorchester in partnership with the Civic Health Institute of the Codman Square Health Center. Their end goal is to increase the social capital in each of their neighborhood sites through increasing the supply of local leaders by engaging youth, skills and leadership development of workers at local organizations, uniting diverse groups of individuals around community projects, and connecting citizens to information to help them be civically engaged-posting volunteer opportunities, announcing civic events through e-mail, operating a civic welcome wagon for new residents, and information on voting.
• Boston Cares provides opportunities for individuals to learn more about contemporary social issues and move from volunteer service to intentional citizenship.
• The New Majority - developed from a recognition that people of color comprise a majority of the population in the City of Boston - has created a New Majority agenda as a major instrument for diverse communities to use as a strategic plan for action and to establish ongoing mechanisms for cross-racial/ethnic collaboration on a broad spectrum of issues - including civic and political participation, social justice, and civil rights.
• The New Democracy Coalition, a Boston-based organization focused on renewing civic engagement among all Americans, especially groups historically disconnected from the political process, focuses its efforts in the areas of civic policy, civic literacy and electoral justice through education programs for youth and adults, research and policy advocacy.
• Project: Think Different, an empowerment media nonprofit organization, uses the arts and pop culture to increase the voice of disengaged youth in civic dialogue and policy formation to ensure equity and fairness.

Click here for the Hub of Innovation's Civic Health Section.
 

REMAINING CHALLENGES

Persistent disparities in health care, education, public transportation access, public safety, and safe and quality housing threaten to divide Boston along racial and socioeconomic fault lines.  These disparities also lead to imbalances and inequities, such as the overrepresentation of youth and young adults of color in the criminal justice system and voter participation rates that vary with income and education levels.

Few contested elections at the local and state level exacerbate declining voter turnout.  In Boston, gubernatorial election turnout declined from 65% in 1990 to 58% in 2002, while mayoral and city council election turnout dropped from 51% in 1993 to 36% in 2001- and in years with no mayoral race, city council election turnout dropped from 40% in 1991 to 25% in 2003. (see indicator 1.4.1)  A decline in contested seats in the Massachusetts Legislature - from 75% in 1990 to a low of 29% in 2000 - also affects voter turnout and interest.  While the Governor made a major effort in 2004 to recruit Republican candidates to contest legislative seats held by incumbent Democrats, the number of contested legislative elections increased to just over half. (see indicator 1.4.2)  The high cost of mounting a competitive election is also a deterrent to many would-be challengers. 
  
Despite growing racial/ethnic diversity in the region, groups remain isolated from one another, and Boston's suburbs, in particular, have become only slightly more diverse.  Boston and the region contain populations that rarely connect.  The 2004 report on segregation and inequality in the Metro Boston region, sponsored by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, concluded that there are many fewer white children in Boston today than previously, and that those who remain live in increasingly advantaged neighborhoods. The vast majority of the region's white children live in the suburbs and attend schools that are, on average 90% white, and many of which are affluent.

While progress in being made, the lack of demographically representative leadership in all sectors in Greater Boston affects the quality of leadership and the life chances and choices of young people, women, and people of color.  Only about 5% of Greater Boston's boardroom seats among the 100 largest corporations are held by people of color and only 8% by women.  In addition, there are few women or people of color in high public office in Boston or in the Commonwealth, compared to other regions and states, including many in New England. And the region's leading universities have fallen behind in their recruitment and advancement of women and minority faculty members. Despite the innovative work of programs designed to nurture and connect the next generation of leaders to current nodes of power and influence, (such as LiNC, the UMass Emerging Leaders Program, and LEAD Boston), progress has been slow. (see indicator 1.3)

Young people in the Commonwealth exhibit low rates of civic and political participation.  From 1972 to 2000, the turnout of eligible 18-24 year-old voters in Massachusetts declined by 16% - more than the national decline of 13%.  And while the "Greatest Generation" has the highest rate of voting, young people have the lowest: nationally, between 1972 to 2000, the gap between 18-24 year-old voter turnout for presidential elections and that of the rest of the population grew to 15%.  Massachusetts has actually lost ground in youth voter turnout - from 29% in 1998 to 23% in 2002, ranking near the middle nationally.  Low voter turnout signals low interest in politically-oriented careers and little faith in political institutions for young people, highlighting the need for civics classes in the schools, though there is little agreement about curriculum content.

Despite the nonprofit sector's size and influence in Greater Boston, a lack of public understanding of the nature, breadth and scale of the sector nationally has resulted in a dramatic reduction in public confidence, falling from 33% in 1994 to 18% in 2002. In addition, federal and state government funding reductions and the shift in government support from nonprofit contracts and grants to consumer subsidies, like vouchers, have affected revenue streams for nonprofits.  Combined with a reduction of pubic funding, individual giving grew at about one-third of the rate of economic growth, while private giving as a share of personal incomes dropped.

Lack of collaboration and institutional resistance to change affects Greater Boston's collective ability to address important social problems.  The region's inability to effectively manage and implement long-horizon public-private ventures like the Big Dig and the Rose Kennedy Greenway are costly to taxpayers and detract from the quality of life in the region.  An increase in cross-boundary conversations - within and across issues, fields and sectors, with decision-making processes that include diversity in stakeholders - could help to drive change forward.  Successful civic projects like the Democratic National Convention and the Metropolitan Mayor's Coalition are reasons for hope.  The future evolution of mega-development projects like the Greenway, the Boston waterfront, and Harvard University's new Allston campus present opportunities for Boston to draw on its capacity for civic entrepreneurship, activism, and human and social capital  - to exhibit a new paradigm of collaborative leadership.

COMPETITION

Chicago Metropolis 2020.
Launched in 2000, Chicago Metropolis 2020 is a civic leadership structure that includes representatives from business, labor, civic, religious and governmental organizations. It is charged with carrying forward public awareness, research, and policy advocacy initiatives that have regional implications for the quality of life, the economy, and social justice in the region.  In addition to having 23 full-time staff, it has recruited nine senior executives and senior members of the business, civic and educational communities, many of whom have agreed to volunteer at least 50% of their time and energy in support of the civic agenda of Chicago Metropolis 2020.

The Greater Cleveland Partnership.
With more than 16,700 member businesses, the Greater Cleveland Partnership is the nation's largest metropolitan chamber of commerce.  A 2004 merger of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, Cleveland Tomorrow, and the Greater Cleveland Roundtable, the Greater Cleveland Partnership is a product of that city's three leading business organizations, exhibiting a willingness to concentrate energy, effort and dollars from the business community to serve as the catalyst for economic growth and jobs creation in Northeast Ohio.