With funding from the Kellogg Foundation, the Alliance for Children and Families (which represents 350 nonprofits active in health, education, and welfare) and the United Neighborhood Centers of America (which has represented Settlement Houses and similar centers since 1911) have developed surveys to measure civic engagement in their members’ programs. For them, “civic engagement” means “people and organizations purposefully interacting and working together with their neighbors, fellow community members, other organizations, and decision makers and administrators to create positive community, institutional, and/or policy change.” They provide a detailed survey for the leaders of participating organizations, plus surveys that those leaders can give to their constituents and key informants. The questions for the organizations include (among many others):

• What percent of the adults served by your organization have been helped to become more active as advocates for healthy living within the community this past year?
• How many public policy actions (e.g., new or modified regulations, ordinances, laws) and/or changes in community practices did your organization’s activities help bring about this past year …?”

The questions for the constituents include:

• [Organization] has helped me to develop the skills to work for better schools or education for my family or others in the community.
• [Organization] has introduced me to other organizations or individuals working for better schools or education.

Once organizations complete the survey, they can begin to track changes in their levels of civic engagement and connect civic engagement to outcomes.