Leisure Time in Our Community - Helping The Less Fortunate, Characteristics Of Volunteers: Gender, Characteristics Of Volunteers: Educational Attainment

Our community. It can be our neighborhood, our city, or the world-at-large. How do we spend our leisure time in our communities? Do we take advantage of the resources offered to us? Do we offer our time and talents to our community? This chapter discusses some of the ways in which people spend their time (and in some cases money) within their communities.

The first panel presents data on charitable giving vs. volunteerism. More of us are donating to charitable organizations and we are donating more than ever before. Has the spirit of volunteerism followed? The next four panels present the characteristics of volunteers over time. Who volunteers the most, men or women? Do college graduates volunteer more than high school dropouts? Those between the ages of 35 and 54 volunteer the most, but has this always been the case? What about other age groups? Are their percentages increasing or decreasing? Whites have always volunteered in higher percentages than blacks or Hispanics, but have blacks always volunteered more than Hispanics?

The next two panels discuss where we contribute our money and our time. The overall percentage of households that contribute to charity rose in the late 1990s. Does this mean that all types of charitable organizations also saw an increase in the percentage of households contributing to them? Are the types of charities we give money to the ones we volunteer for?

The population of the United States has been growing, as has religious membership. Yet, our society is more secular than ever before. The next panel discusses this phenomenon. The following two panels present information about adult and youth religious attendance. The United States has become a more racially diverse nation. It has become a more religiously diverse one also. We look at the fastest-growing religions in the past decade.

Public libraries. Are they still needed with the Internet in most of our homes? The number of libraries has grown in the past decade. Funding has increased tremendously. Visits to public libraries have also increased since 1993. We cover this subject in three panels.

Participation in adult education soared in the 1990s. Why are we taking classes in our spare time? Do these reasons change based on gender and educational attainment? Have the reasons changed over time? Have colleges and universities adapted to meet the needs of this type of nontraditional student? The final three panels cover these issues.