By Curt Collier
Civic engagement in the US is in rapid decline. AmeriCorps, which monitors such things, reported that the number of Americans volunteering in their community in 2022 dropped to 23% (from 36% just a few years ago), and most of that is in rural areas, where community resources are few. In the New York/New Jersey metro area, the number of people volunteering last year dropped to a little more than 18%. It’s not just social service organizations that are showing the change; only 33% of Americans are now members of congregations (down from 76% in the 1960s), and once again in the NY/NJ metro area that drops to 18%! Regardless of the type of group, its political makeup or demographics, the same results are seen nationwide.
Americans rapidly becoming less religious
For many of us who believe in and rely on community involvement, these huge social changes are certainly upsetting. What’s behind this big shift? No one cause has emerged. Certainly, many adults who grew up in communities or congregations where volunteer rates were high are ourselves getting older and less able to participate. Only 25% of the US population was born before 1965. Americans are rapidly becoming less religious, and church/synagogue/mosque attendance has plummeted.
Large numbers of millennials have reported volunteering, but most of their volunteer time is given to on-line organizations and digitally based activist platforms rather than in-person activism. Young adults do engage in social protest events, such as Black Lives Matter or climate-change rallies, but their attendance is only at these large social events…not at the planning or follow-up meetings. It appears that this highly in-debt young generation has to parse their time in other ways (such as paying off huge college loans). And, of course, parents are always ready to volunteer for their children, but with many schools canceling sports and arts (such as band and theater), and with the demise of after-school clubs due to budget cuts, as just happened at Teaneck High School, there is no reason to show up.
We must shift with a changing landscape
I have been monitoring this change for years, having formerly served as a director for both a local and national nonprofit. I recently taught an OSHA safety class in Richmond, Va., and the young program directors there pulled me aside hoping I could offer them some wisdom. It seems that they are struggling to get young adults to sign up even for paid positions doing community redevelopment work. Something has indeed shifted.
We can lament and get upset at this, or cast aspersions toward younger Americans, but that is a futile waste of time. The landscape has shifted, and we must shift with it. As you probably have experienced in your own family, no amount of cajoling will change any of this.
Many young Americans just trying to stay afloat
As I look back over the years, I often reflect on what have been some of my most successful programs, and I’ll add my bit of wisdom to this conversation: Today, people show up less when called to serve others, and more when assisted with their own lives. People aged 30-39 currently carry $4 trillion in debt (up from $1 trillion in 2002). Forty percent of people in that age range say they cannot afford to own a home, and home ownership has dropped every year. They have less money in savings and retirement accounts than previous generations. And the cost of everything has gotten more expensive as the annual inflation rate has continued to increase from 2.8% in 2018 to 4.93% in 2023 (down from 9.06% at this time in 2022, but not expected to fall lower anytime soon).
I think the downturn in civic engagement is significantly influenced by the fact that many young Americans are just trying to make it themselves. That is certainly something we can help with. The present generations are all trying to “retool” themselves for a rapidly changing economy. Despite decreases in college enrollment, online learning platforms like Coursera have recorded 20 million new online students. The number of Americans who’ve engaged in distance learning has grown 186% since 2020. Before you chock this up to the pandemic, these increases began trending before COVID sent us all home. Seventy-nine percent of those engaged in online classes are former students working to expand their knowledge. This is a busy group hoping to keep up financially and professionally.
Young adults more ethics-consious today
Over the next year, let’s continue to find grants and other incentives to help the present generation succeed. Let’s increase our relevancy by meeting people where they are and creating avenues of engagement that benefit both the recipients and the donors. To our benefit, this generation is more ethics-conscious than previous generations. Although this research from Market Dive is a little dated (2018) it rendered some remarkable results:
- More than half (54%) of teenagers ages 16-19 say they have deliberately purchased or stopped using a brand because of its ethics, according to new research from MediaCom provided to Marketing Dive. Lush, The Body Shop, and Fairtrade were the brands that teens supported most based on their ethics, while they said they stopped shopping with Starbucks, MAC, and Primark.
- Almost two-thirds of teens (63%) are more likely to purchase from brands that support causes or charities that are important to them. Eighty-five percent think brands should minimize their environmental impact, and 71% think brands have the responsibility to give back to society.
These former teenagers are in their mid-twenties now, and ongoing surveys show they are just as conscious of the ethical impact of their purchasing power. There is great commonality here between this upstart generation and our current membership. They can find a home here, but they need more support to become engaged in the Society’s work while still meeting their own needs. The era we now find ourselves in calls for great creativity, and I’d like to have a conversation with all of you as to how we can make that happen.
Curt Collier is leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County.