Where Americans Still Find Hope
In a time when many Americans are struggling with day-to-day living and worried that their government isn’t looking out for ordinary people, they are finding hope in what they can do for those closest to them—their families and their community.
Here’s what Emma Bloomberg, 47, founder of Murmuration, discovered in a new survey that the civic tech nonprofit recently completed about hope. Bloomberg, daughter of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, started the group (named after the phenomenon when a collection of starlings move in concert together) in 2014 to help community organizations reach their goals by offering technology, data and sometimes boots-on-the-ground support.
A few specifics from the survey, which included nearly 5,000 people nationwide: Two-thirds of Americans, 66 percent, feel hopeful about their own lives, and 54 percent feel hopeful about their community and the country. Only 38 percent feel hopeful about the country, and that drops to 36 percent for the world.
Murmuration also asked people which actions best reflected hope. 30 percent of respondents said helping someone who needs it, and 19 percent said caring for family and friends. Contrast that with the only 5 percent who said voting, and the 7 percent who said that creating or building something reflected hope for the future. The biggest obstacle to feeling hopeful? Money and financial stress, said 25 percent of the respondents.
Bloomberg’s hope is that by helping provide tools to build a strong foundation, groups can work together to make a difference, both in their families and across their communities. She talked to The Sunday Paper about the challenge of creating community, how data can lead to human connection, and what her organization's research reveals about hope, belonging, and civic participation.
A CONVERSATION WITH EMMA BLOOMBERG
What did your research reveal about where people find hope today?
One of the things that was most interesting to me, and on some level validating, was that people felt the most hope where they also had the most agency. When you brought it down to their own lives and where they could take action, either for themselves or to support others around them, they had more hope about what the future could be. The farther out you get to the world, the less people can see what their direct impact might be, so the less hope they have for the future. To me, that suggests there is untapped potential to bring more people to act in their own communities.
Why did Murmuration decide to study hope?
As part of Civic Pulse (a daily research initiative), we've been talking to 500 people a day, every day, for almost two years. During that time, many things have changed. People's feelings of financial comfort have declined. Their faith in the country and that we're on the right path has declined. But one thing has remained remarkably constant, and that's hope. We wanted to understand why. The survey gave us the opportunity to dig more deeply into what makes hope enduring, where it is most durable, and what might help people have more of it.
How does Murmuration help communities turn that hope into action?
We provide our partners with three things: technology, insights, and support. Our technology helps organizations organize their outreach and keep track of conversations with community members. We talk about insights rather than just data because we're trying to provide a more complete picture of civic life. We also don't expect organizations to know how to use these tools on day one. We meet them where they are, whether they need technical help, implementation support, or hands-on assistance from our team.
Can you give an example of how that works?
One of our earliest partners, Memphis Lift, had volunteers who knocked on more than 10,000 doors in a year, and every note from those conversations was handwritten. So there was no way for them to knock on that door and remember the conversation they’d had before, because all those notes were sitting on a shelf. Or they would host an event and lots of people would come who hadn’t signed up. They were always starting from scratch.
Today, they use our organizer platform to decide which doors to knock on, record conversations directly into the system, and save information from community events. The next time they talk with someone, they don't have to start from scratch. Our focus has always been on using technology as an enabler of human-to-human contact, not a replacement for it.
Many young people say they feel disconnected. What helps build community?
We consistently see that when people have meaningful interactions, they feel good about them. Online communities can be part of that, but they're not enough. We actually crave in-person connection. That's why the organizations we work with focus on getting people to physically show up together. Even very small actions, like helping someone cross the street, can change your outlook. You don't know what benefit you'll get from that interaction. Those small actions build on one another and can create a snowball effect that leads to greater community involvement.
Financial stress appeared throughout the survey. How does that affect civic participation?
Financial stress affects both time and headspace. If you're worried about providing for your family, it's much harder to participate in civic life. What stood out to me was that people weren't saying they needed unlimited wealth. They were saying they wanted enough to provide for their families. We have to think about what it looks like to raise the floor so everyone has the space to participate in our democracy.
What can ordinary people do to improve their communities?
Start local. Ask questions about why things are the way they are and who makes the decisions. If there's an abandoned lot you'd like to see become a park, learn what steps are necessary and start bringing other people into the conversation. People are often surprised by how few calls elected officials receive from constituents. One call can make a difference. Incremental progress builds agency, creates community, and often results in real change.
How do you define hope?
There’s a difference between hope and optimism.
Optimism is: “I think everything's going to turn out fine.”
Hope is: “I think if I take one step forward, maybe then I can take another one, and then maybe I can take another one, and maybe things will turn out fine. Maybe they won't, but at least I'm trying something, right?”
I think it is important to remember, particularly at a local level, that it is possible for one person, for one small community, to affect that kind of change.
Have you ever considered running for office yourself?
I haven't actually spent much time thinking about running for office personally. I've always seen my role as supporting others who do that and helping build leadership in communities. You can have an incredible person in office, but if they don't have broader community support or a strong administration around them, leadership is much harder. At Murmuration, and in my own life, I've focused on helping create that broader context.
What gives you hope today?
We recently brought together about 150 people to have a conversation about what is possible, and seeing so many people who wanted to talk about hope gave me hope. I also work with an incredible group of people and organizations across the country who continue showing up every day because they believe they can make a difference. And I am always hopeful for the next generations. I have an 11-year-old and a 4-year-old. My life is getting many different perspectives, but all of them give me hope.
Emma Bloomberg is an American philanthropist and civic leader who is the founder and CEO of Murmuration, a nonprofit that helps community organizations strengthen civic engagement through technology, data, and organizing support.
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