Involving Residents

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When it comes to planning center programs, making assumptions on the types of programs and services that residents need and want may not achieve the desired results. Generalizations based on age, race, or gender may result in resident needs going unmet and programs that suffer low participation.

Rather than deciding in advance what programs a particular group or community needs or desires, it is crucial to first solicit information and feedback from residents directly. An effective first step in engaging residents is to include them on the center's steering committee, where they can have an active role from the beginning in guiding the center's course and developing programs.

Residents can also be invited to join in brainstorming sessions that allow for the free flow of ideas and experiences that can generate creative and meaningful input to program design. These meetings can also serve as an opportunity to fully inform residents of new developments, building trust and demonstrating that their participation is essential to the center's success.

When treated as partners in this process rather than passive recipients, residents will provide straightforward information about their individual needs and interests, as well as collective goals for the center's success.

Centers that successfully used resident input to plan programs include:

Makini Magee, center director of the Bryant Manor Computer Learning Center in Seattle, Washington, conducted a resident survey to learn what types of programs residents needed and wanted. Magee discovered that residents were interested in an onsite ESL class. Magee partnered with Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) to offer the class in which 22 people participated. To meet residents' increasing demand for the class, the center now offers two ESL classes.

To ensure that the Legion Oasis Neighborhood Network Center in Butte, Montana, delivered resident-appropriate programs and services, one of the first steps Center Coordinator Bonnie Handcock and Center Director Deb Smith took was to conduct a resident survey. For the survey, Handcock and Smith created a questionnaire that was distributed to each of the 160 units of Legion Oasis. The questionnaire was divided into sections that collected information on resident demographics and feedback on issues regarding workforce development, childcare and afterschool programs, and senior programs. With a response rate of greater than 50 percent, Handcock and Smith were confident that the information provided by residents would serve as a good roadmap for their program planning. "We really wanted to know what the residents wanted," said Handcock. "We could sit around a table and guess what types of programs residents need and want, but if we miss the mark, we wouldn't do anyone any good."