The Pittsburgh region ranks in the top half of America's 50 largest metropolitan areas in volunteerism, a national study reports today.
The area ranked 21st with an annual average of 37.9 hours of volunteering per adult resident between 2004 and 2006, according to the study by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Washington, D.C.-based agency oversees AmeriCorps, Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America. Tulsa, the No. 1 region in the study, had an average rate of 60 hours per resident.
The region ranks 13th in terms of its volunteer rate. In the Pittsburgh area, an average of 32.6 percent of residents volunteered between 2004 and 2006. The top region, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., averaged 40.5 percent.
In general, the study found a gap in volunteering between city residents and suburban residents. While nearly 30 percent of the population of suburban and rural areas around a city volunteered, only around 24 percent of residents of an urban area did the same.
The study, "Volunteering in America: 2007 City Trends and Rankings," cited factors that increase volunteerism:
* High levels of home ownership, reflecting attachment to the community.
* Shorter commuting times.
* Higher education levels.
* High numbers of nonprofit organizations. Smaller nonprofits tend to get more volunteers than large nonprofits, the study said.
Robert Nelkin, president and chief professional officer of United Way of Allegheny County, welcomed the corporation's findings.
"This study could be an impetus for more people to get involved and to help individuals who are in need of some type of support and, in so doing, to get a tremendous sense of self-worth as a volunteer," he said.
Nelkin said United Way will try to encourage volunteers to help two groups.
"I wonder whether our community could make a commitment so that every older frail senior living alone could have a visit from a trained volunteer every week, checking in on how they're doing and whether they need health care or other services," he said.
"The same thing is true of students in our urban school districts," he added. "I wonder whether our community could rally so we could have inspirational role models who could help our students to be motivated to succeed in school."
" You would think with the number of nonprofits we have here, we'd be better," said Peggy Morrison Outon, executive director of the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University.
She said Pittsburgh's ranking is consistent with other studies.
For example, Outon said, Pittsburgh placed about in the middle of the top 50 metropolitan areas in terms of adult volunteers in a study by CEOs for Cities, a network of urban leaders.
Outon cited another study in which Pennsylvania ranked about in the middle of states in terms of social capital -- the ability of people in a community to look outside themselves. It is measured in terms of such factors as volunteerism, charitable giving and voting rates.
Larger text
Smaller text
Print this article
E-mail this article
