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Faculty: Susan Ostrander: Projects

One Hundred Somerville Residents: Local Issues and the Potential for More Civic Involvement In April 2003, seventeen students at Tufts University enrolled in a class on community organizations and organizing conducted a survey of one hundred Somerville residents. With guidance from their professor, the students developed questions about local issues and civic involvement, and then approached people in public places and asked them to answer the survey. Here, we present what we learned in hopes it may be of some use to people and organizations in Somerville who are working to address local issues and respond to community needs. The findings of our survey suggest to us, first, a fairly strong potential for building more community involvement by local residents; and, second, an apparent interest on the part of residents in city government and community organizations working together to address community issues. A summary of our main findings and some thoughts about them are: -For nearly half of residents (45 of the 100 people we talked with), the one best thing about living in Somerville is the location – close to Boston, and convenient to work and other areas. This suggests that the city has a built-in advantage that is not likely to be removed or diminished by changing circumstances. -For about one in seven residents (15 of 100), community diversity is the one best thing about living in Somerville. For quite a number of people, then, a diverse population is a reason to live here. -The one most important issue or problem in the city now is either affordable housing (24), or neighborhood safety (23). These seem to be issues that city government, community organizations, and neighborhood groups could address given the capacity to do so, though the cost of housing is also influenced by a variety of external factors. -If residents were to get involved in addressing their issue, about two in five would speak with someone in city government (43 people); and about one in five would bring it up at a neighborhood meeting (22). This suggests that government continues to be the main place people turn to when they see a concern in their community, and that community organizations also play an important role. -Nearly half (47) of the people we surveyed had already talked with someone about their issue, most often (28) a friend, family member, or co-worker. About one in ten (11) had spoken to someone in city government, and another one in ten (11) had either brought it up at a neighborhood meeting or spoken to someone in a community organization. These numbers suggest that a substantial portion of Somerville residents are concerned enough about local issues to make them topics of conversation with people they see regularly. One in five are concerned enough to seek out someone with authority and/or capacity to address the issue either in government or at a community organization. This seems to suggest a basis upon which to build more civic participation in the city. -Over one in four (27) surveyed is already actively involved in some way to address the issue (e.g. through a community or neighborhood meeting, letters or calls to a city or school official); and about one in four (27) already belong to some group or organization in Somerville (e.g. a church, PTA or Headstart, housing or tenants group, etc.) Again, while this number could be higher, it suggests a quite strong foundation for increasing civic involvement. -When asked what would need to happen for them to become more involved, about one in five (22) said they would need to feel listened to and that their views matter, to be asked for their opinions by city government or a community organization, and/or to believe that some action would be taken. Nearly one in five (17) said they would likely become involved if there were more community meetings. These responses suggest that actions that both city government and community organizations could take would likely increase resident involvement in addressing important issues in Somerville. It should be noted that answers could have been affected by the fact that when people did not have ready answers to open-ended questions, student interviewers prompted respondents with a list of possible answers. Whenever this happened a range of answers was provided in an effort not to bias responses (see complete response categories below). While the hundred people we talked with are not necessarily representative of Somerville residents as a whole, comparison of our sample with U.S. Census information about Somerville suggests that the people we talked with are very similar to the general population of the city We interviewed 50 women, and 50 men. A comparison with U.S. Census data shows a close approximation between the self-identified racial/ethnic demographics of our sample and the city census. We note that Asians/Asian Americans are under-represented. Using census categories, with 2000 Census percentages in parentheses, our sample is as follows (Note: Whenever numbers do not add to 100 in this report, it is due to people not answering or some “other” answer.): -White – 76 people (77% U.S. Census) -Hispanic – 9 people (8.8%) -Black or African American – 8 (6.5%) -Asian – 2 people (6.5%) -Some other identity – 4 Haitians ((5%) -Two or more races – 5 people (5%) We also sought out people from different neighborhoods in the city, and talked with the following numbers of people who currently live in: -East Somerville – 15 -Magoun Square – 4 -Ten Hills – 3 -Spring Hill -11 -Winter Hill – 18 -Davis Square - 19 -Prospect Hill – 15 -West Somerville - 11 The age breakdown of our sample is also fairly similar to U.S. Census demographics, though we over-sampled 45 to 54 year olds, and under-sampled 55 to 59 and 65 to 74 year olds. (Note: We were prohibited by Tufts University’s research “human subjects” guidelines from interviewing people under the age of 18.) Also reported here is the number of years people in our sample had lived in Somerville. Age Years Lived in City -20 to 24 – 14 people (13% U.S. Census) -5 or less – 39 people -25 to 34 – 26 (27.6%) -6 to 10 – 18 people -35 to 44 – 19 (15%) -11 to 15 – 13 people -45 to 54 – 20 (10%) -16 to 20 – 7 people -55 to 59 – no one (3.3%) -20 or more – 22 people -60 to 64 – 3 (2.8%) -65 to 74 – 2 (5.2%) -75 to 84 – 3 (3.8%) -85 and over – no one (1.4%) More detail about our findings is as follows: 1.One best thing about living in Somerville: 2. Most important issue/problem: Location close/convenient – 45 Lack of affordable housing - 24 Diversity – 15 Neighborhood safety - 23 People/sense of community – 7 Budget cuts (state, city) - 14 Social scene/Davis Sq. – 7 Quality of public schools - 11 Family ties/lifelong resident – 4 Streets/traffic/parking - 7 Quiet – 4 Racial/ethnic tensions - 3 Good recreation (e.g. parks) – 4 Assembly Square - 3 Safe neighborhoods –4 Quality/number of social services - 2 Affordable housing – 3 Community Divisions overall - 2 Good schools – 3 No problems - 4 Nothing – 3 3. If wanted to be more involved in addressing issue, would go to: City government – 43 Neighborhood or other meeting – 22 Community organization – 17 (local newspaper, Mystic View Task Force, police, landlord, schools, library) Friend or family member –14 Don’t know/no one/nowhere/don’t want to be involved – 8 Local coffeeshop/gathering place – 7 4. Talked with anyone about your issue? No – 52; Yes – 47 Friend or family – 28 Someone in city government – 11 Someone at community organization – 6 Brought up at neighborhood or other meeting – 5 5. Actively involved at all in your issue? No – 74; Yes – 27 6. Member of any group or organization in Somerville? No – 65; Yes- 27 (PTA, Somerville Arts Association, housing/tenants organization, Mystic View Task Force, Somerville Old Homes Association, Headstart, Homelessness Coalition, CAAS, Ruby Rogers Center, SCAT, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, various churches, Stanton Hill Apartments) 7.What need to get more involved? Have more time – 32 More community meetings – 17 Be more interested or concerned - 10 Feel that what I think matters- 9 Be more informed about issues - 9 Have city officials ask me what I think – 6 Know where to go to get involved (e.g. list of groups on city web-page) – 6 Have an issue affect me/my family directly – 6 Have community organizations ask me what I think – 4 Have more places to talk about the issue - 4 Live in city longer – 4 Feel something will be done - 3 Names of Students Conducting Survey Zachariah Baker Kalli Feldman April Baskin Michelle Jones Meghan Brown Johannah Krueger Alison Carr Melissa Marver Brooke Christian Vanessa Matthews Jade del Castillo Sydney McKinney Erin Dwyer Alma Mends Bisi Ezelou Eva Skillicorn Katie Finkelstein Susan Ostrander, Professor of Sociology Tufts University