By Evan Robertson
If there is one underlying philosophy that drives
Market Street’s approach to every project, it is this: every community is
wholly different. Each and every community we’ve worked in has their own
concerns, internal capacity, assets, and critics. Personally, I’ve had the
pleasure of working with a diverse set of communities over my years at Market
Street, ranging from Watertown, SD (pop: 27,442) to the Metro Atlanta, GA (pop:
5.3 million). And while each and every community is unique in its own respect,
there are pervading themes that crop up during public input. For instance, I’ve
yet to facilitate a focus group of workforce development professionals who feel
that they’ve completely addressed their talent pipeline. While the underlying
issues are completely different, along with the assets and capacity to overcome
those challenges, the common concern still exists.
Market Street conducts a ton of surveys. Over the past
two years alone we’ve handled well over 8,000 responses to community surveys we’ve
conducted throughout the country – these responses have immeasurably contributed
to strategies that encapsulate the community’s vision and, ultimately, lead to successful
implementation. These surveys, when combine; provide a rather unique picture of
the types of strengths a community identifies as well as their perceived
challenges. Below are two quick graphics that combine over 8,000 open-ended
response questions to two survey questions we ask in nearly every community.
Words that appear larger were utilized more frequently in open-ended responses
than those that appear smaller.
What
is your community’s greatest strength?
Source:
Market Street Services
Number of Responses: 8,103
Number of Responses: 8,103
The preceding graphic takes over 8,103 responses that
we’ve received to an open ended question we ask in a variety of formats, but it
boils down to: What is your community’s greatest strength? By far, the most
dominate response: people. Those individuals that comprise the community add to
its distinct flare, and contribute positively towards the overall health and
social fabric – further instilling a strong sense of place within the survey
respondent – are most frequently stated as its greatest strength. Simply put, people
make the place – which is encapsulated in the next most dominant response:
community. Finally, geographic location is also a popular response. This is
stated in a variety of formats ranging from proximity to a large metropolitan
area (i.e. a small town with big city amenities) to interstate access. Other less
frequent, but no less important strengths include quality education systems
(schools), low cost of living (cost), economic opportunities, and workforce quality.
What
is your community’s greatest challenge?
Source:
Market Street Services
Number of Responses: 7,965
Number of Responses: 7,965
As you can see, there is less agreement between
respondents over the greatest challenge their communities face: each community
is distinct. While some stand out, they are less predominant. Lack is a common
response, usually tied to opportunity, jobs, diversity, and quality education
institutions (be they higher education or K-12). Interestingly, People as well
as Community make an appearance as key challenges – responses usually pertain
to individuals resistant to change. Just as individuals positively shape the
community so too can others detract. Because many
community members intuitively draw the connection between education and
continued economic success, Education and Schools are also often cited challenges.[1]
While the aggregated surveys show some similarity
between key strengths and challenges frequently cited by stakeholders in an
assortment of communities over the past two years, the approach to leveraging
their strengths and addressing their challenges are exclusive, each requiring individualized
strategies that tailor to the community’s internal capacity and shared vision
for change - solving a community’s K-12 education challenges, for instance, requires
distinct strategies and underlying best practices to inform successful implementation.
Our client communities may share common themes, but each is unique.
[1]
If
you’ve looked at our client
map,
you’ve realized we’ve facilitated many projects in the Atlanta area. It goes
without saying that the region’s primary concern is transportation. It appears
as large as it does due to our body of work in metro Atlanta rather than being
a common trait all communities face. Some of the communities we work in have an
average commute time of ten to fifteen minutes. In Atlanta, that’s enough time
to get you on the interstate, if you are lucky.
