Young Generation No Slouches At Volunteering

By CONNIE CASS, Associated Press, San Antonio Express-News: World
Mon, 12/29/2014 - 2:03am

[...] those under age 30 now are more likely to say citizens have a "very important obligation" to volunteer, an Associated Press-GfK poll finds. The embrace of volunteering is striking because young people's commitment to other civic duties — such as voting, serving on a jury and staying informed — has dropped sharply from their parents' generation and is lower than that of Americans overall. Individuals launch community projects through social media, instead of hanging posters and making phone calls. Three-quarters call voting in elections very important, about the same as in the 1984 survey, though only about 36 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in November's midterms. The importance of voting, jury duty, reporting a crime and speaking English as obligations of citizenship also declined among young adults. Peter Levine, associate dean for research at Tufts University's college of citizenship, said while the nation was building up its institutional support for volunteering, many of the organizations that promote political and civic involvement, including labor unions, churches and newspapers, were shrinking. Could experience gained while volunteering lead more young people to other civic roles, such as banding together to solve local problems, following national issues or joining political parties? [...] Rutgers University Professor Cliff Zukin, who studies civic engagement, sees little prospect that volunteering will lead to a strong return to political participation and other civic virtues that were in decline well before today's young adults came of age.

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