Seattle CityClub will be joining WTIA on May 22 for FullConTech, an event that brings people together from across the public and private sectors for a morning focused on Civic Collaboration.

CityClub, founded in 1980, is a non-partisan civic organization that “fosters civic engagement on issues vital to our community through access to leaders, informative programming, fair debate and lively exchange of ideas.” One of the organization’s most important programs is Seattle’s Civic Health Index, a report that comes out every three years, in partnership with the National Conference on Citizenship, and measures the impact of civic engagement in communities across the country, as well as offering recommendations for how residents can improve it. At FullConTech on May 22, CityClub will release its third Seattle Civic Health Index.

Diane Douglas, CityClub’s Executive Director, highlights two reasons the Civic Health Index is so important. First, she says, “This is a town where if you can’t measure something, it doesn’t count.” And, she argues, civic health needs to be a part of public health. “If you want to solve problems, like healthcare,” she says, “you can’t just focus on disease. A lot of what makes us healthy as individuals and as a community falls outside traditional health care concerns. For example, are you isolated? Do you have a supportive community? If you want to improve people’s health, civic health has to be part of the agenda.”

It’s this kind of thinking, that increasing community engagement can help address a wide range of civic issues, that makes CityClub a perfect fit as our partner on FullConTech. Here are four other things we think make Seattle CityClub a great organization:

1. Civic Cocktail – CityClub hosts monthly gatherings where citizens can hear from experts on the issues impacting our community. Civic Cocktails are open to everyone. To attend, register on the CityClub website.
2. A love of data – According to Diane Douglas, CityClub “takes the Civic Health Index data very seriously.” The organization’s strategic planning committee recently met to review the 2017 Index and talk about how it should shape CityClub programs.
3. The “connected community” and working through partnerships – CityClub has joined forces with local institutions, like Seattle Police Department, to create programs that promote civic engagement and inspire greater “neighborliness.” Plus, CityClub has been expanding its reach and, through its partnership with the Snohomish County Health Leadership Coalition, has helped promote the connection between civic health and physical health.
4. Defrosting the Seattle freeze – One insight that came out of the last Civic Health Index that came out three years ago was that the “Seattle freeze” is real and, compared with other cities that participated in the Index, Seattle was weak on informal aspects of social cohesion, like knowing our neighbors. CityClub joined with the Seattle Seahawks on a social media campaign that encouraged people to get to connect with their neighbors.

I got a chance to talk with Diane Douglas recently about the Civic Health Index and CityClub’s partnership with WTIA.  Here’s what she had to say:

AM:  Why are you excited about this collaboration between WTIA and Seattle CityClub?

DD:  Joining forces on civic collaboration right now is significant. We’re not just preaching about collaboration but modeling it and showing the efficiencies of working together. From the very beginning, when we first started talking about working together on FullConTech, we realized we have different languages and different ways of doing things. By bending and flexing with each other, we can take advantage of the best of each other. WTIA has the “how,” the means to foster civic collaborations through its members and its connections to the public sector. CityClub has the “what,” the data and the insights into where to focus those efforts. Using that synergy is important.

AM: With this new partnership, what are you hoping will come out of FullConTech this year?

DD:  The whole process of working on FullConTech together is giving CityClub and WTIA the opportunity to know each other better as organizations and build trust, so that we can find other ways to work together. It’s also an opportunity for new cross-sector connections and a chance to introduce new people to the Civic Health Index, to give them data and a resource they can go back to. We’re looking forward to sharing this information with new people in the tech sector who may not know the Seattle CityClub. We’re a small organization. This partnership helps us expand our platform.

AM:  What are you hearing about how Seattle residents feel about tech industry growth?

DD:  People are both excited about and afraid of the sudden growth in Seattle that the tech industry is driving. They’re seeing dramatic demographic changes, traffic, displacement. People are concerned that what they love about Seattle will go away. On the other hand, they welcome the dynamism and innovation the tech sector is bringing.

AM:  So the Seattle freeze is real. How would you define it? And is it getting better?

DD:  The Seattle freeze is our lack of warmth in greeting, welcoming and connecting newcomers to our community. Yes, it’s real, but the good news is that, over the past three years, it has gotten better. That shows up in the latest Civic Health Index. And I can see it. When I first moved to Seattle 25 years ago, it was a pretty closed community. People didn’t feel the need to connect to newcomers. But now, because there are so many newcomers, there’s a greater need to connect to them. The newcomers are helping thaw the freeze.

AM:  What is “civic health”?

DD:  The definition of civic health is: the strength within a community to work together to tackle collective problems. It’s having places—parks, public squares, museums—and times—holidays, elections, football games—where we connect with one another. It’s having means to express our values and voices and being informed and open to others’ priorities and experiences. It’s partnering with and redressing our government. It’s power and mutual responsibility.

AM:  What about Seattle stands out, when compared to other cities in the national Civic Health Index?

DD:  In Seattle, we’ve seen positive change come from citizen activism. Pike Place Market is a great example. Also, our city is second in the nation for citizens using their commercial power – buying and boycotting – to bring about change. On the negative side, we’re number 12 in volunteerism, and our numbers in this area are falling. That may be because we have so many newcomers, and we don’t have the mechanisms to integrate them quickly into the community. We tend to assume that everyone will get involved in the community, but many people, for example, are coming to Seattle from cultures where citizen engagement is discouraged. We have a lot of work to do in the area of inviting people to participate and making information about opportunities accessible to the new residents that are coming here.

AM:  Who, besides your organization, uses the data in the Civic Health Index?

DD:  More and more organizations are saying, “I want to see the data,” especially foundations that are trying to develop a strategic focus. Also, companies like Microsoft are interested because they’re committed to civic engagement, and the Civic Health Index tells them what to focus on. There’s a greater interest, generally, among companies here because the millennial workforce cares about civic engagement and wants employers to support it. Civic engagement is a recruitment and retention tool.

AM:  I’ve heard that one of the themes of this year’s Seattle Civic Health Index is “a tale of two Seattles.” What does that mean for civic engagement?

DD:  It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that we have huge disparities in our community, and we see them in so many different things, like education, jobs, health, and pollution. And the gaps we see in civic health match the gaps we see in civic engagement. If people lack access, for example, to clean air and healthy food, unless they’re empowered to connect with leaders and advocate for themselves to get better access, they’re always going to be part of an underclass. The disparities in our community are our biggest civic threat.
You can meet Diane Douglas and learn more about Seattle CityClub and the 2017 Seattle Civic Health Index at FullConTech on May 22.