Zogby's Global Village

By John Zogby

If you have been following my odyssey you see that I get to go to a lot of different places. I was just in Hazleton, PA over the summer at a great family reunion. My mother was born in nearby Shenandoah and lived in Hazleton for a decade. We visited the city as a family a few times a year for many years so it was really a second home. It is nice place defined by faith, family, and ethnicity. Rare is the surname that is not Irish, Slovak, Italian, Jewish — you get the picture. And there is the legendary Jimmy’s Hot Dogs, which in itself is worth pulling off of Route 81.

This is the heart of the anthracite coal region. Years ago, the major film about the Molly Maguires — the 19th century Irish-American coal miners who used violence to protest their abysmal conditions — was filmed nearby. Sean Connery came to town. Hazleton was devastated when the mines closed but in the late 1950s and early 1960s a combination of business and civic leaders put together a community wide campaign to save the local economy. The Can-Do Campaign built a series of industrial parks and put residents back to work. A Penn State campus was built and expanded. Hazleton was cited as an All-American City.

Zogby International was hired to do a visioning study by Leadership Hazleton, the Can-Do organization, and the chamber of commerce in 1998. I did much of it myself because I wanted to catch up on the dynamics of my “home town”. I found a community that was suffering from all the stresses of small cities on the edge of an increasingly global economy. It was a successful project and we were able to help in a number of ways – most notably in the creation of community scholarships to college to local graduates who promised to stay in Hazleton for a number of years. In return there was a promise from local leaders that decent jobs would await them.

We were asked back in 2006 and 2007 to conduct a study that looked into the present and future demographics of the city and determine what institutional and agency changes might be required to address future demographic needs. Back when I was a kid, Hazleton was nearly all white and ethnic. By 1998, this city which once boasted a population of 40,000 had declined (as many northeastern cities had) to about 20,000 – but the total population had begun to increase due to the migration of Hispanics. By 2006, the Hispanic population grew to approximately 7,500 or more people. And herein lies the rub. With any dramatic population growth comes social problems – notably crime, especially violent crime, schools bursting at the seams, language and cultural misunderstandings, and so on. This is precisely what happened and necessitated our addressing this great and tumultuous change in our final report.

I was concerned that the local mayor, who had been re-elected with about 90% of the vote and had become a fixture on cable television as an anti-illegal immigration public official, was allowing the legitimate discussion of community growth and potential to be distorted. And I was further troubled to read in the local newspaper and in national publications that the mayor’s unconstitutional efforts to prohibit employers to hire and landlords to rent to illegal aliens was causing an exodus of Hispanics from this fine city. Someone who considers Hazleton a second home had to be bothered by the headline of a New York Times editorial that read “Hazleton vs. Humanity”. To see legitimate businesses owned by Hispanics shuttering and Hispanics moving out was a bad move – and certainly counter-productive to our study and to the work of the broad committee of leaders charged with coming up with solutions for the future.

Herein comes the controversy: in a personal executive summary to our study, I said that “the mayor…needs to be challenged” because his efforts were not helpful to Hazleton’s image nationally and to the long range work that needed to be done. I also said that a program that seeks to “oppose the sort of prejudice and oppression demonstrated by the local ordinances now in place in Hazleton” needed to be established and I offered a myriad of suggestions. The mayor took my account as a “personal attack” and some community argued that I was accusing the mayor and the public of racism. Since I am not in the habit of arguing or debating with clients I left this alone. Now two full years have passed and here is what I think:

1. No personal attack against the mayor of Hazleton. They elected him and I don’t know him. But his efforts were not helpful.
2. I met with approximately 150 community residents when I was there in October 2007 and they were receptive to getting to know their Hispanic neighbors better; so too were the Hispanics present.

I understand that there are now some efforts to heal these problems. I truly hope so.

By John Zogby

Yes, I do get to go to nice places.

I was honored recently to serve as one of three keynote speakers at Hawaii’s New Horizons for the Next 50 Years conference sponsored by the 50th Anniversary of Statehood Commission. My job was to examine the future of the U.S., take a look at how Americans view Hawaii, and share my analysis of how residents of our 50th state see their own present and future.

First, and not surprisingly, 77% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Hawaii. Actually, we measured views of other states and none came even close. When asked, “what’s the first thing that comes to mind” to describe Hawaii, respondents said, “paradise”, beauty”, and sunshine”. But enough did cite “expensive”.

During the daylong conference there was a very high profile demonstration against statehood. This brought together an interesting and spirited coalition of natives (who feel that their identity, culture, and livelihood have been hurt) anti-taxers, and green anti-growth activists. But according to our survey, 64% of Hawaii residents said that they felt statehood was positive for Hawaii. Only 13% said it was negative and the remainder said neither or not sure.

One of the most intriguing findings for me was that 42% of Hawaii residents said that in 20 years from now, in terms of demographics, Hawaii will look like the nation as a whole instead of the rest of the U.S. looking more like Hawaii. Our 50th state has always been our most diverse and the evidence suggests that as many mainland residents move to Hawaii (where non-native born residents represent almost half of the state), many states, and the nation as a whole, are achieving higher levels of non-white populations.

One in four residents of Hawaii feels that their votes don’t matter and that the mainland doesn’t even care what they think. But this is the state that suffered the worst attack on American soil and in just 50 years statehood has given us a President.

By John Zogby

Isn’t this a fascinating question? It is one thing to recognize that President Barack Obama has captured the imagination of people all over the world. It is an essential ingredient in the power and influence he holds. In the final analysis, constituents love it when their chosen leader is seen as larger than his or her own base.

But this was different. This was both a wistfulness and wishfulness I heard among Italians of all ages. Italy has had a troubled government since almost the beginning of its national unity. Governments changed hands with alacrity and the old party alignments barely produced majorities before they fell. Today’s party consolidation is such that coalitions are broader and majorities more possible, but there is a crisis in confidence that transcends the normal dysfunction of Italian politics. Italians clearly do not favor left-leaning Democrats because socialism is expensive and not growth-oriented. But current right-of-center President Silvio Berlusconi is seen as hopelessly corrupt in both his public and private lives and is referred to by all sides as a national embarrassment.

So when I kept hearing the question raised above in the title of this post, I had to think back to the conditions that led to the election of President Obama in the U.S. The U.S. government, political system, financial institutions, corporate leadership, and church officials were facing the greatest crisis in confidence since 1932. In the election of 2008 all of these were to a great degree on trial. Conventional wisdom argued for the junior Senator from Illinois to wait his turn.  As it turned out, in post-Katrina U.S., Americans felt the existing models of operation were no advantage at all. Add to the mix great demographic change in the form of young people, including Hispanics, African Americans, and a creative class ,who were all demanding change and, in retrospect, the Obama victory now seems inevitable.

As for Italy, there is no question that its scandal-ridden and ineffectual government and political system are in deep trouble. It remains to be seen if one young, dynamic, visionary, consensus, third-way leader can emerge. It is arguable whether or not Italy’s young people can be energized the same way their American counterparts were in 2008.

By John Zogby

The U.S. has the most developed network of First Global™ citizens of any country on the planet, but Europe is not far behind. With two generations of easy border crossings, a network of universities, an efficient and inexpensive train and air travel system, the European citizenry has matured. We hear about immigration to London, Paris, Rome, and Amsterdam, and other cities, but the downside is these cities are having a terrible problem with assimilation, or the lack thereof, if not actual two-way hostilities. On the upside, Europe is again a crossroads of East and West, immigration will continue, students from all over the world will spend time, money, and energy in Europe’s great cities and global citizenry will progress unabated.

But in Italy we discussed a different kind of problem. It appears that Italy – once at the epicenter of East and West – is behind the curve in developing its global citizenry. Though there are huge universities like Rome’s 150,000-student La Sapienza and small influential business universities like LUISS Guido Carli (actually formed by Italy’s leading industrialists), not enough Italians are attending college and too many are instead opting to spend more and more time at home with their parents. These “bambicinos” are staying home well into their thirties. And their parents and community leaders are worried for more reasons than one.

Only 8% of Italians have college degrees (compared with over one-third in the U.S.), and Italian leaders and parents should be worried about the future of Italy’s workforce, the health of its great industries, and its citizenry’s knowledge of government and links with the outside world.

By John Zogby

I am lucky to have been to a lot of nice places. I just love Philadelphia. It is classy, smart, ethnic, real, and has wonderful restaurants. It also has the Museum of Art made even more famous by Rocky. I had the pleasure of viewing the fabulous Cezanne Collection when I was there in April.

This is a good lead-in because my appearance in Philly was before the Wallace Foundation, a significant funder of the arts. We did a special survey for Wallace and the attendees, and they were pleased to get some very good news in the middle of the Great Recession. In short, the arts are important to the American people.

First some results. When we asked “which of these community institutions do you feel are essential to the character of your community”, we got the following:

• Public parks: 85%
• Libraries: 79%
• Local Museums: 61%
• Theatre Groups: 46%
• Sport Teams: 33%
• Dance Groups: 25%
• Other: 22%
• Not Sure/None: 8%

Democrats and women felt that orchestras, dance groups, and theatre groups were more essential than did Republicans and men. African Americans and Hispanics were more favorable to dance groups than whites. Those with passports were much more favorably inclined toward all of the arts groups than were non-passport holders.

Overall, 69% told us that the “presence of local arts and cultural groups (are important) to (their) overall quality of life” – including 82% of Democrats vs. 57% of Republicans and 64% of Independents, 71% of 18-29 year olds, 77% of women (vs. 61% of men), 79% of African Americans and 74% of Hispanics (vs. 68% of whites).

Overall, 50% said that their “level of giving to local cultural organizations” increased or stayed the same over last year (which of course could have included very little), while 50% said that it had either decreased or they do not donate.

Not surprisingly, Democrats were more likely to favor either an “increase in federal funding” (24%) or “same level of federal funding” (49%) than Republicans (5% increase, 27% keep the same).

So the arts are vital to our communities – not as high on the list as parks but higher than sports teams. And they are important to a good cross-section of people in our communities. But the money isn’t there to support the arts now as it was during the boom days. Fortunately, surveys point to answers as well as identify problems. Fortunately, our First Globals™ put the arts higher on the list of necessities than other age groups. So too does the ever-growing “Creative Class”, who will decide the economic future of our communities. Both groups have shown a great willingness to support the arts in both attendance and financial support. They are as yet not nearly tapped out.

Only a small percentage (8%) said it not important to “increase appreciation and awareness of art among young people”. On the other hand, 42% identify “art education programs in schools” and 20% say “partnerships between youth and the local arts community” are the most effective way to do this.

So get them young. A scout membership, a soccer or Little League registration, a Boys and Girls Clubs pass, and so on ought to be enough to generate a year-long pass to young people – as well as a free soda or hamburger coupon with attendance. How are the Websites and Twitter coming along? A virtual partial tour of a museum and encouraging young people to tweet on their experience also helps.