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

INDICATOR: Number of applications to the Regional Leadership Institute (RLI)

Why is this important? Participants in community or regional leadership programs, often organized through local chambers of commerce or educational institutions, are more like to volunteer, more likely to get involved in local and regional decision making, and more likely to organize or collaborate with others to solve community problems.
	How are we doing? Since its founding in 1991, more than 700 leaders from the Atlanta region have participated in the intensive week-long programs of the Regional Leadership Institute. Open by competitive application only, the number of applications submitted has steadily increased during the past three years. 78 applications were submitted in 2004, 92 in 2005 and all time high of 108 applications were submitted for the 2006 class. Through the public opinion survey, we have also been tracking how often respondents visit or contact a public official and/or work on political campaigns as a means for affecting public policy. The number of respondents that contacted or visited a public official in the past twelve months and those that contributed to and/or worked on campaigns has decreased by 7 and 6 percent since 2005.