Civic Engagement
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Goal 9: Our citizens will have opportunities for civic engagement that promotes
well-being and a higher quality of life.
Community quality of life is an amalgam of all our community indicators. The economy, health, social services, land development and environment all speak to the livability of our community. These issues lend themselves to measurement, but other factors relating to livability leisure, cultural resources, social life, satisfaction with government services and spirituality prove a challenge. The Advisory Board felt strongly that these quality of life issues should become a part of the Community Indicators VI: Strategic Spartanburg report. There is a need for a mechanism to systematically gauge citizen involvement through participation in political processes and civic life. In the areas of arts and culture, citizen satisfaction with government, and the role of the faith community, there are currently few sources of data meeting our criteria that produce the kind of benchmarking information usable in this report. More comprehensive methods of measuring quality of life can be found in survey instruments employed by other communities. The adoption of similar surveys would allow us to better assess these quality of life issues over the next five years. This goal raises questions that we as a community must answer regarding the kind of place in which we wish to live: How do we build a more inclusive, welcoming, and respectful community? How can the faith community more fully participate in the development of public, private and nonprofit sector solutions to meet the needs within our community? How do we benchmark citizen satisfaction with government at every level? How do arts and culture nurture the spirit and the economy of our community? How can we build a more collaborative partnership of public, private and nonprofit institutions throughout Spartanburg County? Civic Engagement Indicators Voter Registration Turnout Charitable Giving Attendance at Cultural Events On the right, you'll be able to explore the indicators under this goal. You can delve deeper into the priorities and opportunities laid out in the Community Improvement Plan. We have also put together various funding resources and possible collaborators that we hope will be of assistance. And don't forget the Community Spotlight section which shows you a local project working towards one or more of the Community Indicators. |
