Our "Why"

What’s happening in America? 

We’ve stopped joining. We’re experiencing a decades-long decline in community connections. 

Harvard Professor Robert Putnam’s best-selling book Bowling Alone demonstrated that levels of American community connections have been in decline over the past half-century. 

The Trends

From the 1970s to the 1990s, America has seen…

40% decline in the number of Americans who attended even one public meeting on town or school affairs in the previous year.

50% decline in the number of Americans who took any leadership role in any local organization.

58% decline in the number of times Americans attended a club meeting the previous year.

These and other findings rocketed Putnam to national fame in the late 1990s. In 2012, President Obama awarded Putnam the National Humanities Medal. 

As more Americans turn on to the reality of our social isolation crisis, interest in revisiting his work has grown even more. Now, after more than twenty years, Putnam’s insights have not only been updated to reflect today’s influences (such as social media), they have been made even more accessible: the book is now a movie! And we want to show it to the greater South Bend community.

Join or Die is a film about why you should join a club — and why the fate of America depends on it. In this 2023 feature documentary, you’ll meet six inspiring groups building community in neighborhoods across the country. 

Atlanta's Red, Bike and Green, one of the six community groups featured in the film Join or Die, is a community-building collective that works to enhance the physical, mental, economic and environmental health of Black communities by creating and promoting a relevant and sustainable Black bike culture.

You’ll hear from influential fans and scholars including Pete Buttigieg, religion expert Eddie Glaude Jr. and Surgeon General Vivek H. Murphy. 

You'll also follow Putnam’s own journey through his research as he explores three urgent civic questions: What makes democracy work? Why is American democracy in crisis? And, most importantly… What can we do about it?

What can we do about it?

The book and film have a simple message: Join up! 

We’d like to help the greater South Bend community do that. After the film, you’re invited to attend an open house featuring more than two dozen local clubs, associations, and organizations all ready to help us find our tribes and be a part of something bigger than ourselves. 

The punchline?

Social networks have value. They increase our collective trust in each other. Those connections to one another are “the only way you get big change,” Putnam says in the film. 

But we don’t want to give away the ending. Come see Join or Die with us – and check out some clubs – on October 13.