Texas Civic Health Index
Communities with strong indicators of civic health as measured by the Civic Health Index have higher employment rates, stronger schools, better physical health, and more responsive governments.
Civic Health Index partnerships have changed the way governments go about their work, reintroduced civics to our classrooms, redirected investments, influenced national and local conversations, and bolstered a network of civic leaders across the country.
America’s Civic Health Assessment is an effort to educate Americans about our civic life and to motivate citizens, leaders, and policymakers to strengthen it. The Texas Civic Health Index provides a comprehensive look at civic and political engagement in Texas. It presents information about who engages in their communities, in politics, and how.
2018 Texas Civic Health Index
Strong civic health is vital for a thriving democracy and social well-being. Quality of life is influenced profoundly by people’s engagement in their communities, their civic associations, their networks, and the characteristics of their neighborhoods. Political participation, volunteering, donating, and helping neighbors directly makes an impact in the community. The following report seeks to catalyze this conversation on civic health in the Greater Austin area.
We think of “civic health” as the way that communities are organized to define and address public problems. Communities with strong indicators of civic health have higher employment rates, stronger schools, better physical health, and more responsive governments. The importance of these actions, and the lack of information we know about them, led the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life to publish the first Texas Civic Health Index (™) (CHI) in 2013. Given the state’s rapidly growing and changing population demographics, and our nation’s evolving political landscape, the civic habits of Texas’ residents deserve revisiting. This report provides an update to the 2013 Texas CHI and presents an assessment of civic health in Texas in 2018.
Communities with strong indicators of civic health have higher employment rates, stronger schools, better physical health, and more responsive governments. This infographic tells the story of how Texas civic health in 2018 stacks up against the national civic health.