"Citizens 4 Change" Dayton Daily News Article (Kettering: city hall, neighborhoods)

[citizens4change]

DAYTON — A grass-roots Dayton organization wants to put “boots on the ground” in the fight to improve the city. Citizens 4 Change Dayton held the first meeting of its board of directors Saturday, March 20, at the Dayton Metro Library. The group wants to help improve Dayton neighborhoods by connecting residents to solve problems.“Our goal is to give local communities a voice by assessing community needs and giving residents the tools to work together to improve local conditions,” said Tresavon Evans, the group’s spokesman.

Citizens 4 Change formed about one year ago and is working toward nonprofit status, said Evans, 27, a Dayton native who lives in Kettering.
Several board members met March 12 with Dayton Mayor Gary Leitzell at City Hall. “We were able to communicate our purpose to the mayor directly,” said Karen Sweeney, the group’s secretary.The group offered to help the city organize information about area nonprofits to connect people with services more quickly, said Sweeney, 43, of Dayton.


On Saturday, the seven-member board outlined a May project in the Westwood Avenue area between James H. McGee Boulevard and West Third Street.Working with the Wesley Community Center, group members will survey Westwood residents, compile data and initiate projects as demanded by residents. “We’re literally going door-to-door to every resident inside Westwood seeking their voice and their opinions on what they want to see done inside of their community,” said Kenneth Wade, 31, of Dayton, the group’s executive director.

The Westwood community was selected as the area most in need of help by popular vote on Citizens 4 Change’s Web site, REAL PEOPLE=REAL RESULTS!.
Wade said the group receives an average of six or seven e-mail messages daily from people “wanting to know what we plan on addressing inside of their communities and what we plan on working on inside of their neighborhoods.”
The group plans to launch “Operation: Westwood” on May 8. It plans to divide the community into four sections and survey one quadrant at a time. “We feel the only way to improve the city of Dayton itself is by getting boots on the ground, so to speak, inside the communities and getting them in sync with one another,” Wade said.

[JefferyT]

This Project Westwood sounds really interesting. I presume you are going door-to-door. Will have you have pre-defined questions or are you asking open-ended type quesions?

[citizens4change]

We will be using a Community Voice survey, one that was designed several months ago by our board and has proven to be simple, direct, and capable of being answered in less than 45 seconds per resident. Of course we'll stay however long it takes....because well I for one like to talk

Ken