How to build strong home towns

American Demographics, Feb, 1997 by Michael Irwin, Charles Tolbert, Thomas Lyson

Schuylkill United Ways 1996 campaign goal was $600,000. They raised $650,000. At the same time, local citizens also gave $1 million to renovate the public library in their county seat of Pottsville. And a $1 million campaign to renovate the Salvation Army barracks in nearby Tamaqua is also nearing completion.

Schuylkill County is a collection of small towns in the hills and hollows of eastern Pennsylvania. It isn't a metropolitan area, and it isn't wealthy. But "the base of donors is excellent," says Clare Houser, Jr., a lifelong resident who is executive director of the local United Way. "I can't think of a charitable campaign here that hasn't succeeded."

One reason is the churches. "Every little town here has dozens of them," says Houser. Another reason is civic organizations. "The Kiwanis, the Rotary, the Lions -- they're all going strong, "he says. But the biggest reason is probably roots. The 1990 census found that 92 percent of Schuylkill residents aged 5 and older also lived in the county in 1985. The national average for counties is 74 percent. "Lots of local people who retire to Florida are coming back home," says Houser. "This is a good place to live." Good places to live can be good places to do business, too.

It's often said that we live in a rootless country. About one in six Americans moves every year, and almost 15 million people changed their county of residence between 1993 and 1994. In Michigan, New York, and other states with little or no population growth, civic leaders are searching for ways to encourage their residents to make long-term investments in their home towns. Everyone agrees that job creation is part of the solution. But so is promoting that nebulous quality called "a sense of community."

Fifty years ago, the noted sociologist C. Wright Mills and economist Melville Ulmer concluded that the best places to live -- i.e., those with the highest levels of civic welfare -- are cities in which small and medium-sized businesses flourish. More recently, political scientist Robert Putnam has claimed that social capital in the U.S. is on the decline. His "bowling alone" hypothesis holds that Americans are less likely to engage in many civic activities (including bowling leagues) than they were in earlier times.

Putnam uses data on association membership, migration, and other subjects to chart the decline of civic engagement. Mills, Ulmer, and others make convincing arguments for the importance of certain institutions. But so far, no one has tackled an obvious question. Which American places have the strongest civic spirit, and why? This article attempts to measure how the degree of civic engagement differs from one county to another. It draws upon statistics and research in demography, sociology, and political science to measure the institutional factors that anchor people to places.

In any given short-term period, most Americans do not change their residence. When they do move, they tend to remain in or around their local communities. Local populations are maintained primarily by the people who stay, but most research focuses on why people move away rather than why they don't. The few studies on the subject suggest that the factors anchoring people to places may be fundamentally different from the factors that lead them to leave.

We wanted to know whether two kinds of institutions -- small-scale economic enterprises and associations -- create a sense of civic engagement that embeds people in places. Counties where these institutions are relatively strong may be more likely to retain a nonmigrating population core because they increase association among residents. Small businesses and associations may complement each other, promoting civic engagement in different ways.

ANCHORING PEOPLE TO PLACES

Small, locally owned manufacturing firms may reinforce civic engagement because the owners are heavily invested in the community. Owners and managers of small firms participate in local community institutions to maintain networks of local business contacts and supporters. Their involvement means that small businesses may be less likely to pull out of the community during an economic downturn, and more likely to support and lead local nonprofit institutions. Small manufacturing firms may also dampen migration by providing a predictable and stable economic base hat enhances the living standards of local residents.

A diverse economy helps Schuylkill County, which ranks sixth in he U.S. among nonmetropolitan counties in our index of civic engagement. "All the jobs around here used to be King Coal," says Houser of the United Way. "Now we have a lot of small manufacturers who are doing well, and that kind of employer is crucial to our annual fund drive."

There is also a strong relationship between voluntary associations and civic engagement. Local chapters of groups like Rotary International, Boy Scouts of America, and the League of Women Voters enhance political participation both directly and indirectly. Associations also give their members and the public a sense of integration and cohesion in an otherwise fragmented urban world.