Earlier this year, we shared the process we follow when conducting a Community Impact Measurement (CIM) study every three years and that our area of focus for this year’s study was Washington Terrace. We are excited to announce that we have completed the study and started our initial analysis of the results.
While we’re still in the evaluation phase, we’ve seen a common theme emerge from our resident surveys. While Washington Terrace residents feel safe in the buildings and among their neighbors, general safety in the area is a top concern.
These concerns aren’t new and were the driving factor behind the recent meeting between The Sunshine Committee and the Raleigh Police Department. Still, this valuable feedback will help us make future decisions in the best interests of the community.
Resident Services Coordinator, Rachel Tutwiler, explains, “Through this CIM study, we received consistent feedback from Washington Terrace residents that while they feel safe in Washington Terrace, safety in the areas right outside the community is a concern. What this means for us is a greater focus on helping neighbors get to know each other.”
“When crime happens in the area, it makes residents cautious to venture out of their homes, in part because they don’t have community and social connections. We recognize that helping residents build up connections with neighbors will help them feel more familiar with the people they see in passing so that when something happens, they’ll feel more comfortable that their neighbors are looking out for them.”
Currently, there are resident-led community events at Washington Terrace, like bingo nights, which help neighbors come together and form important social connections. This is a wonderful start, and our goal in the coming months is to help foster more of these connections between residents.
As we continue to evaluate the data from the CIM study, our next steps are to identify actions we can take that are related to the results, which we will then share in an engaging way with residents and on our website as part of a future newsletter.
Rachel explains, “I’m using the training I’ve received through the NeighborWorks America Business Intelligence Fellowship to use Tableau to help us further analyze and report on this data in a way that is most meaningful to residents. We got an amazing response from these resident surveys, leading to a robust dataset that we can work with to make actionable changes. We’re all excited about what we can learn from this and the improvements that will come as a result.”