June 27, 2023
City Manager's Office
DATE: June 27, 2023
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
LaShonda White, Deputy City Manager – Community
Services
Patrick Seals, Project Manager
Subject:
Release of the 2023 Community Survey
FINANCIAL IMPACT: No financial impact
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
December 20, 2022
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
City Council approved the contract with Polco/NRC for
the 2023 National Community Survey on December 22,
2022. City staff is seeking final approval of the draft survey prior to release.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
APPROVE the release of the Polco/National Research
Center 2023 National Community Survey – Community
Services Department (Lashonda White 510-620-
6828/Patrick Seals 510-307-8016).
AGENDA
REPORT
June 27, 2023
DISCUSSION:
Background
The City of Richmond has enrolled in the National Research Center’s (NRC) National Citizen Survey (NCS) biennially since 2007. The community surveys allow the City to:
• Assess the quality of community life and services provided to residents; • Help make informed decisions about how to allocate resources; • Gather information on residents’ perceptions and use of services; and • Compare results from previous years to measure changes over time.
The NCS is a collaborative effort between the NRC, a public research firm focused on public sector information needs, and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). NRC has a benchmark database which holds hundreds of thousands of resident opinions – making it the largest of its kind in the United States. A few years ago, NRC merged with Polco, an online community engagement polling platform, to give public sector organizations the data they need to make more informed decisions. Polco/NRC was among the first scientific surveys developed to gather resident opinions on a range of community issues and has since been used in more than 350 jurisdictions across 46 states.
The results from surveys conducted between 2007 and 2021 can be found on the City’s website at http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/index.aspx?NID=1871. Survey results are utilized in various documents and city reports such as the Department of Children and Youth Community Needs Assessment, Health in All Policies report, Richmond’s race and equity work, and grant applications.
2022 City Council Direction and Requested Survey Changes
On December 20, 2022, City Council approved the contract with Polco/NRC for the 2023 and 2025 Community Surveys, and to provide the City access to the Polco Online Survey and Polls platform, at a cost of $78,000. City Council also requested to include additional custom questions to the 2023 Survey. The 2023 Community Survey is currently five (5) pages and has 16 questions, which exceeds the standard twelve (12) survey questions (Standard questions – 3.5 pages, custom questions - .5 page, and demographic questions – 1 page). The current survey takes respondents ~20 minutes to complete.
Survey Options and Staff Recommendation
Based on City Council’s 2022 direction, City staff, in partnership with Polco/NRC, conducted a thorough evaluation of the 2023 survey, and engaged in discussions regarding the impacts and process of including additional custom questions. As part of this process, City staff analyzed the following options:
June 27, 2023
Option Impact
1 Release as is
with no
additional
changes
The 2023 survey instrument will closely resemble the past surveys in format and content which will enable NRC and the City to compare survey results from multiple years. This option will not add pages to the existing survey. Additional pages could decrease survey responses. The custom questions utilized have been incorporated for well over a decade, and are an established part of the longitudinal study. Maintaining the current survey structure will allow the City to monitor progress against Richmond’s own results in previous and future years via trendlines, as well as provide a baseline by which to measure against other communities (using the benchmark comparisons).
2 Adding new
custom
questions
Adding additional custom questions may significantly impact the efficacy of the survey in the following ways: increase the page count, increase the time to complete the survey, reduce the responsiveness, and increase cost at ~$5,000 for each ½ page.
Additional questions would lengthen the already long survey which could have a negative impact on overall response rates, especially for communities that have historically exhibited low response rates.
3 Removing
existing custom
questions and
adding new
ones
Removing some of the existing custom questions would impact the City’s ability to monitor responses longitudinally and would impact our ability to use that data in some of the City’s work (e.g., Health in All Policies report and Race and Equity work).
With advisement from Polco/NRC survey experts, City staff recommends Option 1, to publish the 2023 Community Survey, as currently drafted, without adding new or replacing existing custom questions (See Attachment 1). City staff also plans to utilize Polco’s online survey platform to support the City’s future survey needs.
Polco Online Survey and Polls
The Polco/NRC provides online customizable or templated surveys and polls as a part of the City’s current contract. These short surveys can address important issues such as economic health, housing, land use, and many others. The Polco Library contains a collection of surveys designed by Polco’s in-house data science laboratory that governments can use instantly. Furthermore, agencies can use the survey as-is or modify questions to better suit their needs.
More specifically, the Polco online surveys and polls can:
• Map responses at the district level and provide mobile engagement with respondent verification
June 27, 2023
• Track resident demographics
• Uncover detailed resident insight on various local government topics • Accommodate infinite surveys and polls across infinite interest and policy areas • Expedite publishing surveys and polls
Next Steps
In consideration of the City Council’s strategic goal and priority setting process, City staff can:
Work with City Council and Polco/NRC on incorporation of new or additional custom questions for the 2025 Community Survey
Utilize Polco’s online survey platform to create customizable or templated surveys and polls with specific questions throughout the year (outside of the Richmond Community Survey period)
Help develop and draft questions, in partnership with the City Council and/or City staff, around key topics for incorporation into the 2025 Community Survey and/or using Polco’s online survey platform
If approved, City staff intends to expedite the release of the Richmond Community Survey in July 2023, with the plan of completing the surveying in November 2023, and presenting findings to City Council in January/February 2024. This schedule will allow City Council and City staff to consider any survey findings into FY 2023-24 mid-year budget decisions.
Once released, the survey will be available in hard copy, on-line, and in Spanish. In an effort to receive the maximum amount of participation from those selected to complete the survey, City staff will publicize the survey via social media, connections with community-based organizations, the City’s internet site, KCRT, and other venues.
Polco/NRC will process the surveys, perform the data analysis, and produce a report for the City’s review. The main report will contain graphs and tables of the results, a description of the methodology, information on understanding the results, and comparisons of the results to other jurisdictions that completed the NRC’s survey.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Draft Polco/NRC 2023 National Community Survey