Leading into the 2024 elections, it is important to understand how New Hampshire’s civic health has shifted since 2020. The pandemic, 2020 election, untimely death of George Floyd, and events of January 6 all may have contributed to changes in civic health. Measuring civic health takes stock of residents’ well-being when it comes to who participates and who does not participate in public life. Factors include how much people trust each other, vote, attend public meetings, feel they belong, and help out neighbors.
This Carsey Policy Hour marked the release of the 2024 New Hampshire Civic Health Report. Dr. Quixada Moore-Vissing, Carsey faculty fellow and director of Public Engagement Partners, and Michele Holt-Shannon, director and co-founder of New Hampshire Listens, discussed this update to the 2020 New Hampshire Civic Health Index. The 2024 report is a collaboration of Carsey’s NH Listens, Center for Social Policy in Practice, and the UNH Survey Center.
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About the Authors
Dr. Quixada Moore-Vissing is a faculty fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy. She also directs a civic engagement consulting firm called Public Engagement Partners. She is a community engagement designer, civic researcher, and published author. She has led civic initiatives with a range of foundations, universities, think tanks, and nonprofit organizations. Moore-Vissing has co-written four civic health indexes, including the 2012, 2020, and 2024 New Hampshire Civic Health reports, as well as Maine’s first report, which launches this October. Moore-Vissing has worked organizations including Civic Commons and the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley at creating communities of belonging. She also worked with UNICEF on their Child Friendly Cities Initiative. Moore-Vissing trained with U.S. Civic Rights Leaders and has studied with peace organizations including Corrymeela in Northern Ireland and the International Institute for Jain Studies in India. She earned her PhD in Education at the University of New Hampshire; MA in Communications at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; MA in Teaching at the University of New Hampshire; and BA in Literature and the Avant-Garde from Boston University’s University Professors program.
Michele Holt-Shannon is the director and co-founder of New Hampshire Listens at the UNH Carsey School of Public Policy. For over 30 years, her work on and off campus has focused on community problem-solving, increasing engagement in the decisions that impact people’s lives, and bringing skills and support for navigating conflict and controversy. Michele is known for her skill in facilitating groups, coalitions, and learning exchanges. She is the lead designer and facilitator of a program in NH that has had over 450 participants in 20+ cohorts sponsored by the Endowment for Health. She works to bring people together across perspectives and backgrounds to solve problems and create equitable solutions for their communities. Michele is consulted on navigating controversial community issues, addressing racial equity, and fostering cultures of authentic engagement and belonging. Recent projects include critical incident response in public schools, New Hampshire’s Civic Health, statewide conversations on the American dream and NH’s kids, mental health and substance use, community-police relations, and water sustainability. She earned her MA in higher education and human development from Bowling Green State University, an MTS in world religions and theological studies from Boston College, and a BS in biology and psychology from the University of Alabama.
