Aug. 10, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan
The city will be conducting a survey testing civic engagement in Jackson Heights, Sunnyside and Woodside on Saturday, examining how involved people are in the community and how to increase that participation.
Volunteers with the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit will be conducting a door-to-door survey throughout the neighborhoods on Saturday.
“We aim to measure volunteer and civic engagement rates with the national census to see whether they compare, as well as better understand who is volunteering in the neighborhood and why,” said a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office in a statement.
Once the information is compiled, it will be presented to focus groups in the fall to develop a volunteer support platform, which will be used in the three neighborhoods starting in 2017.
Jackson Heights, Sunnyside and Woodside were selected for the survey because they are some of the most diverse areas in the city.
“This is truly a unique opportunity for the City to collaborate with residents directly and understand how to better engage them in their neighborhoods,” said New York City Chief Service Officer Paula Gavin in a statement. She added that though the city has specifically targeted these three neighborhoods in Queens to begin with, it plans to replicate the strategy in other areas of the city in 2018.