The Iowa Small Town Poll has tracked a sharp decline in membership in local service clubs. David Peters, a rural sociologist with Iowa State University Extension, says the poll started surveying residents in 125 Iowa towns in the early 1990s.
In the early 1990s, about 20 percent of the residents in a typical small Iowa town were members of a fraternal group.
Peters says the Iowa Small Town Poll found membership was relatively stable from 1994 to 2004 and the sharp decline started about 2010.
National data shows membership in all organization, including churches, has been on decline for the past 40 years. But Peters says the decline has been particularly severe with fraternal groups.
Peters says another factor is younger adults who might want to be involved are commuting longer distances to work and don’t have as much free time in their home communities. When service clubs disappear, Peters says small towns lose the infrastructure that organizes and raises the money for a variety of events and causes.
Peters says his research shows younger adults DO want to help their communities, but they want shorter meetings, more flexibility, virtual options AND a group effort that’s not necessarily aimed at putting on the same events, year-after-year. Algona’s Morwens Kiwanis Club closed at the end of September, after serving the community for over 50 years.
