Town to Distribute Parks, Recreation & Facilities Survey
Manchester, CT: The Town of Manchester will be conducting a Community Interest and Opinion Survey as part of a Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Master Plan that will help establish priorities for the future development and delivery of parks, trails, recreation facilities, programs and services within the community. The survey will run from November through December and will be administered digitally through the nationally recognized ETC Institute via phone, mail and the Internet.
During the second week of November, ETC will mail the survey and a Town-approved project description letter to a random sample of households. Residents will be provided two convenient opportunities to respond: an online link that will be included in the letter and a postage-paid return envelope.
About seven to 10 days after the surveys are mailed, ETC will follow-up with households that received them via e-mail and/or phone; the firm’s goal is to achieve a minimum of 350 completed surveys. A sample of 350 will provide the Town results that have a margin of error of +/-5.2 percent at the 95 percent level of confidence. ETC consultants will monitor the distribution of the sample to ensure that it reasonably reflects the demographic composition of the Town with regard to age, geographic dispersion, gender, race/ethnicity and other factors.
The survey will compile resident feedback on a wide variety of Town parks, facilities and recreation programs and services. “Representative engagement is critical to create a more equitable and accessible community. This survey will help provide Town leaders a more representative cross-section of Manchester residents and what they value.” said Director of Leisure, Family & Recreation Christopher Silver.
Residents ages 18 and older will have the chance to rank and prioritize items relating to the Town’s parks, recreational programming, facilities, and areas of potential investment. Survey findings will be submitted to the Town in January and presented to the public in June. Residents who are not randomly selected to receive a survey but who are interested in providing input for the masterplan will have an opportunity to complete an identical survey after responses for the statistically valid survey are received and tabulated.
Established in 1982, ETC Institute is a Kansas-based company that has administered surveys in more than 700 cities and counties nationwide throughout the previous five years. The firm is a national leader in market research for local governmental organizations and, since its founding, has completed research projects for clients in 49 states, including surveys, focus groups and stakeholder meetings.
For survey updates and results, please visit the Town’s new online public engagement platform at www.YourVoiceMattersManchesterCT.com.
