HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-08-10-2020-min (Social Diversity Working Group)20/20 Vision Committee
Social Diversity Working Group
Minutes for Meeting on
Wed. Aug. 10, 2016, 7:45 AM
Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building
Attending: Elaine Ashton, Judy Crocker (by phone), Andrew Dixon, Peter Enrich, Joe
Pato. Guest: Marian Cohen
Please note that near -term action items agreed to are indicated below by use of
bold -type.
1. The minutes of the meeting of July 7, 2016, were approved with spelling
corrections.
2. The group reviewed progress on the demographic analysis since the July
meeting:
• Marian provided graphs of several dimensions of demographic change from
2000 to 2014, answered questions, and agreed to review some of the data.
• Elaine reported that the Community Center could only provide some data on
age of users of the facility, not of other demographic dimensions.
• With regard to housing costs /values, it was noted that the assessor has rich
data, and Joe reported that he has done some, and has the capacity to do
more, analysis of that data. Andrew will see what kinds of comparative
data might be drawn from neighboring communities, as well as what
sorts of information are available about the distribution and evolution
of price ranges in the market. Elaine raised the possible utility of doing
some mapping of the information across neighborhoods. There was
(inconclusive) discussion of the desirability and feasibility of gathering
information about the reasons that lead people to move out of town. Joe
agreed to report what he can on this topic from his data.
• Judy reported that the schools have detailed data on the numbers of students
eligible for free /reduced school lunches, averaging 8% across the town and
ranging from 5 to 10% in individual schools. She was still in process of
reaching out to the Superintendent about the school department's role in our
work. They'd very much value any assistance in forecasting student numbers
and the timing and geographic distribution of new enrollments.
• Joe noted that the selectmen would value information about demographic
changes (esp. with regard to age, cultural background, and language) that
would be relevant to service demands.
3. With regard to planning for the survey:
• Marian will circulate data on the frequency distributions of
prioritizations of issues from the previous survey, to supplement the
reports from that survey that she has already circulated.
• Before the next meeting, everyone will review the questions and format
of the previous survey, and consider ways it should be revised. Among
the topics raised were: additional exploration of issues of community
divisiveness, and what additional demographic information should be
sought.
• The new survey will be set up in a way that doesn't require a respondent to
respond to every question in order to complete and submit the survey.
4. After some discussion, it was agreed that March 2017 was probably a better time
for conducting the survey than earlier in the winter. Marian agreed to prepare a
time line for tasks required to proceed on that timeline, taking account of the
preparation of the survey, publicity in advance of distribution, and subsequent
analysis of results. In anticipation of the survey, the working group needs to review
the list of groups used for outreach last time and compile a list of groups for
outreach this time. The need to have the survey available in paper form was noted.
The desirability of having versions available in languages other than English was
noted, although the feasibility of doing so was doubted.
5. Possible sources of funding for the survey preparation and analysis were briefly
discussed. The possible availability of some modest funds from the Planning
Department was mentioned, as well as the possibility of seeking an appropriation at
the fall Special Town Meeting or of drafting a request for the 2018 budget. It was
agreed that this topic needs to be addressed in the very near future to allow work to
proceed this fall. Joe agreed to look into options. This topic should be discussed
at the August meeting of the full 20/20 committee.
6. Peter agreed to circulate a doodle to identify a next meeting time in
September.