Document Type

Research Report

Publication Date

6-2012

Abstract

In the winter and spring of 2012, the Steering Committee of the Mattapan United Resilient Communities/Resilient Families project undertook an assessment of community members’ attitudes and opinions for use in planning and program development.

The Committee was assisted in this endeavor by the Center for Social Policy (CSP), McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston. The work of CSP is supported by a grant from The Boston Foundation to provide analytical and evaluation assistance for its Fairmount Initiative along the Fairmount/Indigo Corridor of Boston.

The questionnaire was widely disseminated throughout Mattapan in hard copy and online to those who reside in the neighborhood and those who work in Mattapan. By design, the MU Steering Committee members distributed the questionnaire through their community network ties, using this needs assessment as a way of not only learning from those who live and work in Mattapan, but also of building momentum and increasing engagement among additional community members for its neighborhood change initiative. In particular, the questionnaire was distributed in locations where Mattapan residents regularly gather (e.g., faith-based settings, schools, library, businesses and other). Of primary importance was hearing from Mattapan youth. A total of 691 completed questionnaires were submitted and were analyzed for this report.

It must be emphasized that those who filled out and submitted the questionnaire do not constitute a scientifically selected sample of those who reside and work in the area. With these caveats, and in conjunction with other information already available to the MU Steering committee, the results reported herein may nonetheless be useful as one source of insight and input for the Mattapan United action planning process.

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