Services for
Community Organizations
Gathering information from the community through a
door-to-door Community Survey:
A Point Research community survey, conducted
door-to-door by members of your own community, will find the answers your
organization needs in order to better serve the community. For example:
- A Residents Association, whether new or
well-established, needs to take the pulse of the community to ensure that its
programs meet the needs of all residents and that funds are being wisely spent.
- Community organizations that were once thriving but now
find program attendance is down and volunteers are staying away, need to
identify the reasons why and make the necessary changes.
Whether your organization is just starting up or
is long-established, it is vital that its leaders know the needs of the community. The most effective way to gain this
knowledge is to go to the people ask them, through a
comprehensive community survey.
How
the
community
benefits from a survey:
-
The detailed
and
comprehensive
analysis of
the needs of
a community
helps ensure
those needs
are met;
-
Through the
survey
process,
people feel
they are
being heard,
and they are
inspired to
become more
involved in
the affairs
of their
community;
-
There is
increased
attendance
at meetings,
greater
volunteer
participation
on
committees,
and an
atmosphere
of
cooperation
and
inclusion.
More
volunteers
means less
volunteer
burnout;
-
Community
leaders
benefit, as
the more
people
become
involved in
the
development
and growth
of their
community,
the more
they can
accomplish
together;
-
New business
ventures can
be started
in the
community,
as the
survey could
identify
businesses
desired by
the
residents.
How the
survey
volunteers
benefit through conducting the survey:
-
The people
who
volunteer
to conduct the
community
survey are
often
unemployed
or on social
assistance
when they
are
recruited
and many
have few or
no job
skills.
While
working on
the survey,
they learn
new skills,
such as:
-
Computer and
technical
skills;
-
Interpersonal
skills,
through the
canvassing
and
interview
process;
-
Organizational
and time
management
skills;
-
A strong,
self-motivated
work ethic.
-
The volunteers earn income through honoraria
paid for their work;
-
The survey volunteers earn the respect of their
community for their hard work and dedication,
and have increased self-respect, as the value and importance of their work is
recognized.
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Getting important information and notices to the community
The key to building community is effective communication
among community members and the organizations that serve them. Point Research
Inc. meets this need through the following services:
-
Designing and maintaining community websites
-
Door-to-door delivery of important notices, bulletins, and
flyers
See our Projects page
for examples of our work in this area
Services for
Government Departments and Agencies:
During
difficult economic times, when crime and poverty are in the news, governments
and social agencies are under increased public pressure to address these issues
effectively and at minimal cost to the tax payer.
-
With the immediacy of the internet and
the high concentration of news channels in the media, the public has become
increasingly aware of social and economic issues facing impoverished and
marginalized inner-city communities.
-
Continuing down the current road
of failed policies based on guesswork is no longer acceptable.
Government departments and agencies
serving the inner city require accurate, detailed information on which to base
their policies and programs.
-
Point Research has demonstrated that large-scale accurate studies of
inner-city populations can be conducted effectively and affordably.
-
The visible and measurable results of
programs built on accurate, comprehensive survey data will satisfy
public demand for effective action and fiscal accountability from its
government.
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For Agencies Serving the Homeless:
Point Research recognizes the special challenges
the homeless face in their daily lives, among them the burdens of mental
illness, addictions, social isolation and exclusion. We believe that the path to
leaving the streets lies with the homeless themselves.
The first step on that journey is to conduct a survey of
significant numbers of this population, to determine the path to stability and
security for each of them.
Rather than recruiting survey interviewers from among the
homeless, the survey would be carried out by a core group of the Point Research
team, some of whom have experienced homelessness themselves. As such, they are
sensitive to and comfortable with the people they would be interviewing.
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Services for Social
Research Consultants:
Point Research offers a
valuable research tool for social research organizations and private
consultants, through its ability to reach all residents of the inner city.
-
Social research is
conducted, often on behalf of government departments and community service
agencies, by academic institutions such as universities, as well as by
private consultants;
-
These research
consultants employ a variety of research techniques, including telephone and
internet surveys, focus groups and community consultation meetings, to gather
information for their clients. These techniques are quite effective in reaching
most segments of the population, with the notable exception of inner-city
populations;
-
The vast majority
of inner-city residents, those who are most in need of help from government and
service agencies, are least accessible through standard research methods and
often cannot be reached in numbers significant enough to be representative of
the needs of the community;
-
Point Research
specializes in reaching these previously inaccessible inner-city residents, in
great numbers.
Contracting the services
of Point Research to survey this population enhances the service offering
of social research firms to their clients, enabling them to take on projects
which would in past have been beyond their scope.
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