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OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK
KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK
COMMUNITY RELATIONS JULY 9, 2018 4:48 P.M.
Committee Members Present: Regina Williams-Preston, Sharon L. McBride, Jake Teshka,
Karen White
Committee Members Absent: None
Other Council Present: John Voorde, Jo M. Broden, Gavin Ferlic, Tim Scott
Other Council Absent: Oliver Davis
Others Present: Bianca Tirado, Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer, Casey Colvin,
Gabriel Murei, David Boling, Elivet Navarro
Presenters: Emmanuel Cannady, Stacy Odom
Agenda: Community Survey Report- Emmanuel Cannady,
University of Notre Dame
Committee Chair Regina Williams-Preston called to order the Community Relations Committee
meeting at 4:48 p.m. She introduced members of the Committee. She stated, To give a quick
history,one(1)of the things that came up last year was this issue of investing in our neighborhoods
and, most specifically, with home repair. We had a couple public meetings last ye of the
Community Relations Committee where we actually had a proposal to look at what we would do
with these lots. The question was how to do new construction that was actually affordable. In those
meetings, we heard loud and clear from the existing residents that while new construction is
important,the existing homes are falling apart. We wanted to find out how to get more assistance
with home repair for existing residents. What is exciting about that is, again, South Bend is
listening and we heard from Community Investment about two (2) different programs that will be
addressing exactly that. One (1) of the things we pushed for last year was to actually do a survey,
a community survey, going block by block through the West Side neighborhoods. Those are the
neighborhoods we project would get more investment later on based on a traditional model of
starting downtown and moving out. What we are saying is we can't wait in those neighborhoods.
If we wait, we would end up with more vacant and abandoned homes and we have residents who
are actually living in deplorable conditions. We don't really know what that looks like so the
initiative was to hire neighbors to go knock on the neighbor's doors and talk to them about what
is happening and what they want to see. Together with the University of Notre Dame, IUSB,
Community Wellness Partners and the City of South Bend,we put together a survey that asks those
very questions. It is online now and the survey complete. We have hired residents to knock on
doors and to talk to people. We have invited those folks to come and speak.
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Community Survey Report- Emmanuel Cannady,University of Notre Dame
Emmanuel Cannady, 322 E. Colfax Avenue, stated, I am a Notre Dame partner as I am a graduate
student of Sociology. I am the primary investigator of this project so that means I am in charge of
the methodology, the sampling, looking at the results and writing up the report. I want to go over
three (3)things quickly then will turn it over to the folks in the room that do the data collection so
they can tell you what their experience is about. Our method of gathering data, as Coucilmember
Williams-Preston had said, was participatory mapping. So we asked neighbors what their
neighborhood looked like. Through the conjunction of the 1000 houses in 1000 days initiative and
when those conversations were happening, these were the neighborhoods (referencing a picture
displayed which is available in the City Clerk's Office)that were the impact areas. There are four
(4) neighborhoods we are working on with this project, going from North to South we have
affectionately labeled them One (1)through(4).
Mr. Cannady continued, As of this afternoon, I just checked, we are expecting to have 1,200
competed surveys. That means three hundred (300) in each of the areas and, as of this afternoon,
I saw we had three hundred and eight (308) completed surveys. A majority of them are Area One
(1) so Area One (1) is almost done and we started on Area Four (4) so we are really moving right
along with the project. In terms of the method and how we decided to go door-to-door, we had a
lot of conversations about that. We pondered doing online surveys,through email,through phone,
but what the research constantly has showed is that face-to-face interviews tend to be the best
because of trust. We have neighbors going to other neighbor's doors and that increases trust and a
neighbor would be more willing to participate. We projected that sixty-six percent(66%) of doors
we knock on would participate. We sampled four hundred and fifty(450) homes in each area with
a target of three hundred (300) and we are outpacing that extraordinarily. People want to be a part
of this survey.
Mr. Cannady went on,We are using Amazon Fire Tablets to record this survey. The residents input
the data and that automatically gets uploaded to a cloud that I have access to. If people want to
participate in the survey but they are not home or busy, each of the data collectors put a door tag
on the neighbor's door which has a number they can call in to. They all get the number and leave
a message and that message is transcribed and emailed to us. We then get that out to the data
collectors.
Stacy Odom, 212 S. Iowa Street, stated, I've been out taking surveys and it has been great. All the
people are so excited about being surveyed. Even people who feel they have been left out or left
behind, they feel the City of South Bend is trying their best to bring them up to par with the rest
of the City. Many people have solutions for their own neighborhood, which I think is excellent.
When we surveyed on the North side, one (1) of the things most mentioned was about the vacant
lots.The kids are playing in the streets in some of these neighborhoods and residents want to know
if the vacant lots could turn into a basketball court, swings and other things. Each neighborhood
has a remedy to their own problems and we can really assist them.
Councilmember Tim Scott asked, Are you hitting every house or are you just picking houses in a
designated area?
Mr. Cannady replied, The sampling procedure came from looking at a spreadsheet with all the
zonings of the properties in those areas. We are looking at SF-1, SF-2, apartments and such. There
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®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
were some odd cases in there that I just went to Google Maps to see more about. Some were zoned
differently but actually had residents. From that, I put all of the available cases into a random
number generator.
Committeemember Sharon L. McBride asked, If there is someone outside of the lines but are in
that area that need assistance, and they're elderly, how do they complete the survey?
Mr. Cannady replied, So these are the target areas now so if they are outside,they just aren't a part
of the sample. But we hope to expand it in the future.
Committee Chair Williams-Preston stated, This is just for who will get the survey, but the
programs coming out to assist are going beyond the boundaries of the survey.
Committeemember Karen White stated, The citizens are very excited and are very thankful that
we are taking the time to go out in the community and ask them. They are seeing results and the
level of engagement makes them feel and know they are valued. That, to me, is something you
can't put a price on.
Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked, Could you send an example of the survey to the Council,
please?Then,also,I'm thinking some of your categories might have some confusion. I'm thinking
maybe including this visual is important. People need to have a collective understanding going
forward. Thank you for all your work.
Mr. Cannady replied, Yes we can send out a survey to Council. Also, those areas were
automatically generated from Google Maps. We are just calling them Area One(1),Two(2),Three
(3) and Four(4).
Committeemember White asked, Is this information on the website?
Mr. Cannady replied, It is not. The information gets sent to a database that is password protected
right now and the information won't be looked at until it is complete, which would be around the
end of August 2018.
With no further business,Committee Chair Williams-Preston adjourned the Community Relations
Committee meeting at 5:05 p.m.
s ectfully Subinitod,
w A,
Regi a illiams-Preston, Committee Chair
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455County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson BvldI South Bend,Indiana 466011p574.235.92211f574.235.9173 TM574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov
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