Elder civic engagement and rural community development

There is great concern about aging rural communities across not only Wisconsin, but the United States and, indeed, the developed world.    Much of the literature paints a dire picture of communities where the costs of caring... [ view full abstract ]

There is great concern about aging rural communities across not only Wisconsin, but the United States and, indeed, the developed world.    Much of the literature paints a dire picture of communities where the costs of caring for the “elderly” are going up while fiscal resources decline. Consequently, in this literature, elders are portrayed as a burden.  As societal values put economic considerations before human considerations and as longevity outpaces improvements in quality of life, families and communities have a growing burden to bear to provide care for the increasing number of people whose quantity of life is outlasting their quality of life.  However, the singular focus on the burden of the “elderly” ignores the contributions of the “elders.” As a consequence, we lack much understanding of what, beyond the time availability that retirement brings to many, draws elders into civic engagement in rural areas and what benefits communities are experiencing as a result. Our project attempts to fill the gap by focusing on understanding what elders contribute to rural community development and how communities can organize to gain the most benefit from the potential contributions of elders.  Because we know so little about elder civic engagement, we are building rather than testing theory by using a grounded approach. We have completed 15 of a planned 50 in-depth interviews with Wisconsin elders.   We are using participatory research techniques, with a statewide core group of elders helping to guide the project, and respondent validation to get feedback from participants. Preliminary findings indicate that while there is no "typical" experience, and each individual has unique contexts and experiences, three profiles are emerging. First, the lone warriors work on niche, specific, and change-focused work.  The politically engaged group does more work providing education and information. Local movers and shakers are focused on providing services or material benefits for local residents. Other ways that the three categories differ are the amount of organizational support they have, the amount of resources they have, and how connected to a tight-knit local group versus a wider geographic group that may include other communities facing similar issues.   

By the time of the conference we will be nearly complete with the research and will be able to present more complete findings.