What We Learned From Talking to You About Civic Participation

This election season, WNYC’s Yasmeen Khan and Shumita Basu have been talking to people in the New York-New Jersey area about more than straight politics, parties and candidates. They’ve been asking people how they are involved in civic life, in big and small ways, every day. Here are some of their takeaways from the past few months of reporting.

Basu spoke to people who were highly engaged in activism or organizing, and who were generally optimistic about their potential impact. One of her main observations: You are your friends' biggest influencer. Many people she spoke to, who were writing postcards or knocking on doors or even running for an elected position, said they got into it because a friend told them to.

Another observation that solidified for Basu over the course of her reporting: Activism is a luxury to some and a necessity to others. She met a lot of fairly affluent people who had the time, social status and money to spend on organizing. Kim Beck, a Manhattan resident who's involved in a fundraising group, told Basu she felt guilty that 52 percent of white women voted for President Trump, and even though she didn't vote for him herself, she felt accountable to work toward a different outcome in this election.

For Somia Elrowmeim, a Yemeni-American organizer in south Brooklyn, activism comes from a place of self-preservation. She told Basu that many of her group's volunteers are women, in part because the hijab makes them visible targets of Islamophobia and bias.

While Basu spoke to highly-engaged people, Khan focused on those who were looking for ways to become more civically engaged. Through WNYC and Gothamist's Ask a Reporter project, she answered questions ranging from, "How can I get a mural in my neighborhood?" to, "What can we do about New York's abysmal voting laws?" 

Khan spoke to a number of political scientists who study civic engagement, including Amber Spry from Brandeis University, who said that doing small civic acts can take the pressure off for people who feel anxiety about tackling bigger, more global issues. And taking on those small acts often leads to acquiring a new set of skills and building confidence to take on larger tasks.

Khan says, making change requires persistence and getting together with your neighbors to make decisions collectively. This process can help you understand other people's priorities and problems in your own community. Community conversation can be a civic act in and of itself.