Community Survey funding application
Kilcullen Community Action is to go ahead with an application for funding for an extensive Community Survey, as a major resource project to help with the future development of the town, writes Brian Byrne.
The proposal by Orla O'Neill was unanimously adopted at a recent KCA public meeting. The survey would consider such matters as relationahip with the physical space of the community, and contact with local services. Anonymous personal details about health, parenting, income, education and stress would also be surveyed.
Opinions about how people interact with neighbours and groups would also be part of the research, including matters such as anti-social behaviour, service needs, local leadership and volunteering.
Orla O'Neill provided as an example a report on a similar initiative in the Darndale-Belcamp area of Dublin in 2008, with a similar number of households as in today's Kilcullen. Approximately a third of those households were included in the survey, each completing a 120-question booklet. A separate youth survey, much of it conducted online, proved to be an important part of the subsequent report.
The survey would be managed by a professional research coordinator, and the KCA meeting was told that Kildare's Leader Partnership could fund 90 percent of the estimated €30,000 cost of the research and analysis involved in producing the report.
Orla O'Neill said that it would be very useful to the statutory agencies which will have to be more involved in Kilcullen's development as the town grows in coming years beyond just being able to depend on volunteer groups.
KCA chairman Kieran Forde said that such a survey would be something for the community to go with to local authorities and give them something to base their planning on. He suggested that it could provide vital information on attitudes to local matters such as childcare, care of the elderly, health, education and social welfare.
Orla O'Neill commented that the survey should not just give information on what the people of the community wanted, but what it was prepared to do for itself.
The proposal by Orla O'Neill was unanimously adopted at a recent KCA public meeting. The survey would consider such matters as relationahip with the physical space of the community, and contact with local services. Anonymous personal details about health, parenting, income, education and stress would also be surveyed.
Opinions about how people interact with neighbours and groups would also be part of the research, including matters such as anti-social behaviour, service needs, local leadership and volunteering.
Orla O'Neill provided as an example a report on a similar initiative in the Darndale-Belcamp area of Dublin in 2008, with a similar number of households as in today's Kilcullen. Approximately a third of those households were included in the survey, each completing a 120-question booklet. A separate youth survey, much of it conducted online, proved to be an important part of the subsequent report.
The survey would be managed by a professional research coordinator, and the KCA meeting was told that Kildare's Leader Partnership could fund 90 percent of the estimated €30,000 cost of the research and analysis involved in producing the report.
Orla O'Neill said that it would be very useful to the statutory agencies which will have to be more involved in Kilcullen's development as the town grows in coming years beyond just being able to depend on volunteer groups.
KCA chairman Kieran Forde said that such a survey would be something for the community to go with to local authorities and give them something to base their planning on. He suggested that it could provide vital information on attitudes to local matters such as childcare, care of the elderly, health, education and social welfare.
Orla O'Neill commented that the survey should not just give information on what the people of the community wanted, but what it was prepared to do for itself.
