Laserfiche WebLink
User Guide to The National Citizen SurveyT" <br />Purpose of the User Guide <br />As a participant in The National Citizen SurveyTM (The NCSTM), you are among an elite group of <br />communities that conduct resident surveys. Communities often use the results of The NCS to: <br />• Envision Make strategic plans and set goals <br />• Engage Partner with residents, other governments, <br />private sector and community -based organizations <br />• Earmark Alter budgets, personnel or services <br />• Educate Communicate and reach out to residents to <br />inform, educate and advocate <br />y Enact Create, alter and remove policies to promote <br />community strengths <br />® Evaluate Track strengths and problems, dig more deeply <br />and evaluate progress <br />The purpose of this User Guide is to provide you with an <br />overview of the various products you have received related to <br />your survey results, and to describe how to dive in and <br />understand the data that are provided in these products. <br />Your community, including the elected officials and <br />government staff, should dig into data relevant to their <br />missions, discuss the findings and create action plans. <br />Residents expect their leaders to act on the survey results they <br />receive. By acting on survey results, community leaders build <br />credibility with residents. This credibility leads to heightened <br />public trust which, in turn, makes it more likely that residents <br />will support expenditures and resource allocations <br />recommended by their councils, commissions or staff. Proper <br />expenditure of resources leads to better communities. <br />The NCS Background <br />National Research Center, Inc. (NRC) <br />developed The NCS as a low -cost, <br />comprehensive, statistically valid survey <br />solution for local governments eager to <br />find out what their residents think about <br />their communities. The NCS is not just a <br />survey; it is a service that encompasses <br />the entire survey research process - <br />scheduling, questionnaire development, <br />sample selection, data collection, analysis <br />and reporting. In partnership with the <br />International City /County Management <br />Association (ICMA), The NCS has been <br />administered hundreds of times in <br />numerous U.S. cities, counties, towns, <br />villages and boroughs. <br />The NCS assesses aspects of community <br />life, local government service quality and <br />resident participation in community <br />activities. The results, based on resident <br />perceptions, describe the areas where <br />community members themselves believe <br />things are going well and shed light on the <br />areas that could benefit from <br />improvement. <br />