The Knight Foundation and Gallup Consulting have just published their Soul of the Community research.  The purpose of the study was to understand what drives "engagement" or commitment to community and how each of Knight's communities ranked on "community citizen engagement" or CCE. 

Several findings stand out.  Aesthetics are a key driver of CCE in every age group.  In fact, it is the only attibute that ranks among the top three attributes among all age groups.  Aesthetics, in this survey, was defined as "parks, playgrounds and trails" and "physical beauty of the place."  (I would argue with this description, but there it is.)  While social offerings and openness most influenced 25-44 year olds, students were more influenced by economy and education.  But aesthetics ranked third for both, and second with all age groups.  (Social offerings -- or vibrant nightlife, good place to meet people and others care about each other -- and openness -- good place for older people, race and ethnic minorities, families with kids, gays and lesbians, and talented college grads -- ranked first and third, respectively, with all age groups.) 

Interestingly, social capital and involvement rank lowest among all age groups, with safety not much higher.  Leadership, defined as leaders share my views and leadership of elected officials, ranks in the middle of all attributes among all age groups.  In other words, it's not unimportant to driving engagement, but it is by no means a priority factor.

CCE is a combination of loyalty and passion factors.  Levers that influence engagement or CCE are openness, social capital, involvement and community offerings (the category where aesthetics and social offerings fall).

Among Knight communities, the city with the lowest level of engagement is Gary, Indiana, followed closely by Detroit.  The community with the highest level of engagement is Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with Biloxi, Mississippi, and Long Beach, California in second and third place.   The best-performing big cities are Palm Beach, Charlotte and St. Paul.

The survey is an interesting first attempt to analyze the level of commitment citizens have to their communities and what drives that commitment.  

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