Community Building

Atlanta Regional Commission Supported Web Site

Community Building

Goal 1: Enhance the public's confidence in local government by coupling strong leadership with strict accountability.

Confidence in government as measured through opinion polls

Goal 2: Develop an active concern for community in our youth.

Number of students in the region participating in youth organizations such as the Y Clubs, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), and Boys and Girls Club TEENSupreme® Keystone (leadership) Clubs.

Goal 3: Encourage citizens to take a more active role in their communities.

Voter turnout

Rates of volunteerism and charitable giving

Goal 4: Increase the role of citizens in making decisions that affect the community.

Number of applications to the Regional Leadership Institute (RLI)

Goal 5: Build more partnerships between government and grassroots citizen groups.

Survey of local government officials to discover number of cooperative arrangements or programs with citizen groups

Goal 6: Increase the level of partnerships among the private sector, government, nonprofit organizations and the community.

Number of contracts between and among local governments and private for-profit and not-for-profit service-delivery organizations

Goal 7: Create more political opportunities for people from disadvantaged groups.

Number of minorities in elected offices

Rate of voter turnout among minority groups

Links

GOAL 2: Develop an active concern for community in our youth.

INDICATOR: Number of students in the region participating in youth organizations such as the Y Clubs, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), and Boys and Girls Club TEENSupreme® Keystone (leadership) Clubs.

Why is this important?

Youth organizations encourage members to learn more about their communities and develop a sense of civic responsibility and concern. Youth activities typically constitute a young citizen's first steps toward community involvement and often set the stage for participation in civic affairs later in life.

How are we doing?

Region-wide data on youth organizations is imprecise, at best. Few youth organizations measure their reach by county, and regional domains vary considerably, making accurate metro-area membership numbers difficult to pin down.

In our 2006 survey, we identified a small fraction of metro-area youth - 84,331 - as active members of one of five nationally recognized youth organizations (Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMCA/YWCA, and Future Business Leaders of America and Keystone leadership groups within the Boys and Girls Clubs). The number of youths participating in these organizations decreased across the board from 2004 to 2005.

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