Last week, I joined a gathering of newsroom leaders in Tulsa, Ok., to discuss the industry hot-button known as engagement: How might news organizations better attract and involve the audiences and communities they serve?
It was, on the whole, an uplifting few days. But I came away gripped by this data point, from a report last year by Over Zero and the Center for Inclusion and Belonging at the American Immigration Council: Just 26% of Americans say they feel a sense of belonging in their local communities.
That top-line number is a bit misleading: In reality, belonging is more ambiguous, and most people experience both belonging and exclusion to varying degrees. They may feel emotionally connected to their neighbors but unable to authentically express their opinions; they may be included in some community activities yet feel powerless to influence decision-making. (See where you come out on the study’s “Belonging Barometer,” on page 5.)
But the overall conclusion is still alarming, echoing previous studies on the decline of social capital. What’s more, the researchers found strong associations between local belonging and key drivers of civic health. People who felt the strongest sense of belonging in their communities said they were involved in an average of three civic groups; those experiencing the greatest exclusion were engaged with just 0.5 groups. Those who felt the greatest belonging were significantly more likely than the most excluded to believe that citizens can effect local change, and more than twice as likely to say they trusted their neighbors and local government.
(The researchers didn’t ask, but I’m guessing that people who feel they belong more often subscribe to local newspapers, too.)
The new research so intrigued me because Boulder and Jefferson County have been wrestling for years with the question of how to strengthen civic participation. At its most recent meeting, the Boulder Transition Advisory Committee discussed ways to engage young people in shaping the community’s future. A new effort via the county’s Planning Department, “Community Heart & Soul,” aims to build participation in the civic mainstream. Reimagining Boulder and the Boulder Area Chamber of Commerce have experimented with ways to spur involvement by those new to the area.
And everyone wonders: Why is it always the same 15 or 20 people who drive most community activities?
There probably are many reasons — but I wonder if one is that we haven’t made more people feel welcome. Australian researcher Saleena Ham has found that “newcomers can be intrinsically disruptive to the old and comfortable social norms of small towns. While newcomers want to show their value as residents by offering their new ideas or experience, these are not welcomed by locals because they disrupt the status quo and make them uncomfortable.”
Personally, I’ve experienced nothing but welcome in my five years here — but, like, I own a newspaper. What about people who don’t enjoy such an obvious entry point?
Welcoming America, a non-profit organization that works to ensure belonging, says that breaking down silos starts with storytelling. It encourages communities to find opportunities for people to come together to talk about their own stories, a simple activity that can be powerful in changing people’s beliefs and behavior. Bringing a neighborhood together for a street clean-up, say, or a gardening project, can provide a fun and comfortable platform for sharing personal narratives.
My Solutions Journalism Network colleague Julia Hotz studies loneliness and connection. Her new book, “The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging,” draws on psychologist Arthur Aron’s questions that anyone can use to build closeness with people, even strangers. You can ask about common interests, like someone’s idea of a perfect day or their dream dinner guest; or about common experiences, like treasured (or terrible) memories. Such questions, as I learned in Tulsa, are a way to invite people from their self-isolating place of safety to a “brave” space where they feel more comfortable engaging with others.
Those one-to-one efforts can become even more powerful, Welcoming America has found, when powered by a coalition of community-based organizations. “Planning these events can be an opportunity to consider who’s at the table, from initial concept to event launch, and perhaps more importantly, who needs to be at the table to move the work forward.”
In 2021, a consortium of community entities in Bend, Ore., launched Welcoming Week — part of a national effort created by Welcoming America, a non-profit organization working to ensure belonging. The Bend group worked with a wide range of historically excluded residents — disabled folks, seniors, unhoused, people of color and LGBTQ+ people — to describe what it means to be safe and welcomed in local businesses. That led to a lasting partnership with the city’s small businesses and Visit Bend, a local marketing organization.
There’s no right answer, of course — and the data shows that, as a society, we’re still struggling to understand what works. I’d love to see the county Health Department create a “director of community belonging,” to help normalize good practices for connecting people. It would be great, too, if our local organizations worked together, rather than in silos, to address the challenge.
But the effort to help people more comfortably engage in civic life starts with each one of us. We can all work to include people in activities, to allow them to be their whole selves, and to value their contributions. We can fight “the old and comfortable social norms” that can make small towns difficult to navigate. Belonging is on us.
