Neighborhoods

Neighborhood case

The Historic Park neighborhood includes approximately 120 homes and 450 residents (150 adults, 250 children). Their neighborhood association has approximately 20 residents actively involved, and half of them held a zoom call to discuss options for staying connected to as many neighbors as possible. Their immediate concerns are ensuring that marginalized residents’ basic needs are continuing to be met amidst a shelter-in-place order and that socially isolated individuals are engaged and encouraged by other neighbors. Some members are also very worried that local dynamics may put neighbors at a particularly high risk of exposure if the pandemic worsens, so they want to have a system already in place to make sure that anyone suffering from health problems is looked after. The neighborhood includes roughly 50 senior residents in 30 households.

Survey

They also adjust the initial “bio” question to simply invite people to generally indicate how they’re doing and if there is anything they would like to communicate to the rest of the neighborhood.

• How are you doing? Is there anything about how you’re experiencing this difficult time that you would like to communicate to the rest of the neighborhood?

The leaders proceed to upload the list and send out invitations to every email address they have on file (mostly adults, however children are still included in the interest of recognizing their role as potential points of contact and support between households). They also send opt-in links by text and social media to anyone they can who they can’t reach by email. Each participant then completes the survey and indicates how well they are in contact with other residents based on the questions below.

1. I’ve met this neighbor

2. I’ve communicated with this neighbor in the past year

3. I normally communicate with this neighbor at least monthly on average

4. I am in regular contact with this neighbor and expect to be in touch at least weekly during the shelter-in-place order

They have the option of filtering the list to adults and/or seniors to expedite the process (they can also use the search feature to identify specific children they are in contact with, if they choose). Because most households were included in the uploaded list, every participant can indicate their connection to any other neighbor right from the start (they don’t have to wait for them to participate for them to appear on the list). They also include a note in the survey for people to go back and identify any residents who were somehow omitted. The survey clearly indicates who will have access to the information gathered; survey information and contact info remain private to the neighborhood association.

Connecting

Ten members of the neighborhood association are the first to participate, generating the initial map indicating connectivity, below. Collectively, these neighbors have at least met nearly all the other households. However there are many households for whom they are not even in monthly contact with anyone.

They conclude that by sending the survey out to all the residents on their list, they will likely identify neighbors with regular connections to the ones they are currently out of touch with. The following live map reflects the growing web of connections and contact among participating neighbors.

Follow up

The connection map helps identify which neighbors still do not have a clear point of regular contact connected to the rest of the neighborhood. This prompts the leaders to reach out to them by different means.

The map also serves to help the association visualize the survey data. While it can be downloaded for a more thorough review, the maps allow each member to quickly gauge the different levels of need and availability of assets, and to begin formulating strategies for connecting or addressing them.

Needs and offers map

(in progress)