How We Feel About Our Community - A Report on a Recent Community Survey
Last Month we asked how you feel about your hometown, here are the results
On June 27th, this newsletter ran this small survey to find out what our community members think about this place we call home. We were eager to hear your thoughts, and now the results are here to share! Before we get too far, it might be helpful to point out the original post where we introduced this survey.
As promised, the survey was kept open for two weeks and here are the results. The link to the survey was placed through this publication and a couple of other social media pages to try to get as much participation as possible. Since this was a first time effort, I knew that participation may not be high. And in honesty, surveys like this aren’t best read as a stand alone measure; rather the beauty of this survey is going to be seen as we see trends develop over time. However, with that being said, we will still discuss where people perceive their community at this point in time.
Raw Statistics
First things first, the survey was open for two weeks, and we got 78 responses from folks living in the Troy (45373) Zip Code. It may not seem like a massive number, but trust us, it's statistically significant for a community of 26,000. The margin of error for this survey is 11%, which means every percentage we're giving you has that little wiggle room at a 95% confidence level - which is an industry standard for surveys like this.
Right Track and Wrong Direction
Now, let's dive into what you all had to say. The survey asked about the nation, the state, and our lovely community. For the nation, 17% believe we're on the right track, while a whopping 67% think we're headed in the wrong direction. As for the state, 22% feel it's on the right track, but 56% say it's going the wrong way. And for our City of Troy, well, only 12% think we're on the right track, while 81% feel we're going the wrong direction. Not exactly positive numbers.
Outlook On The Future
The survey also wanted to know your outlook on the future and it's a bit of a mixed bag. Some folks (3%) are extremely confident that things will get better, while 22% are somewhat confident. On the other hand, 33% aren't too sure and think things might get worse, and 15% are really not confident at all – they believe things will definitely get worse. Let's hope for the best!
How We Feel About Our Community
But even with all the uncertainties, most of our respondents still have a positive affinity towards our community. That's heartwarming! 60% love our community, 30% like it, and only 1% don't seem to have any emotional attachment. We do have a small group (6%) who don't quite like it, and there's even a tiny portion (3%) who reported that they "loathe" their community.
Attributes and Opportunities
The survey also asked individuals to list what they believed the three biggest attributes and the three biggest oppportunites facing the community where. Word clouds were developed to show the open-ended answers people provided.
Attribute Word Clouds
Largely, our residents have high marks for our downtown, our extensive park system, the collection of businesses and shops in our community and the events that occur within the community.
Challenge Word Clouds
Residents are concerned about the lack of leadership in the community, housing opportunities and traffic and transportation issues.
What do you think?
Perhaps you were one of the 78 individuals that participated in the survey. Maybe you are surprised by the results. Let us know what you think about this survey in the comment section and if you find the Civic Capacity Newsletter helpful - please share it with those you know! Together, we can make our community even better!
Bill, I think Piqua could benefit greatly by a community survey. Identify the strengths and weaknesses and find ways to correct the weaknesses and turn them into additional strengths. Again, well done Bill!
I wish there were a way to engage more citizens in exercises such as this. It's my guess that those who responded are the same who vote in every election & involve themselves in other civic functions. We need to hear from those who are not so involved, & give them an impetus to become so. Not sure how to achieve that, but I commend this effort to hear citizens' opinions. If nothing else, people have got to VOTE. We all saw where voter apathy got us in the mayoral race. Thank you for keeping us informed!