TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
The Year of Learning
Results
Change Happening Today
A Life Changed
Where One Collective Elgin is Headed
Introduction
The Year of Learning
A year ago, One Collective Elgin committed to making this year the Year of Learning. In order to learn as much as possible about the community, hundreds of hours were spent at the library reading all the Elgin history books, walking through neighborhoods, and studying every needs assessment that has been done in Elgin over the past 15 years. We committed to having 1000 conversations with people who live in, work in, or volunteer in Elgin. Many things were learned, new friendships were built, and through these conversations, networks were connected. People were connected.
511 conversations with unique individuals were logged, coded, and studied. Below is a simple report of what was discovered in this research about the needs in our community.
People, churches, and organizations are now taking this information and collaborating to create a plan that will impact the whole community of Elgin.
Setup:
Every participant was asked two questions:
“Make a list of your top 3-5 biggest problems in your community or in the city of Elgin. Which would you fix first?”
“What resources or skills do you have that you would be willing to contribute to solving any of the problems in our city?”
Then they were asked if they were willing to share their demographic information.
Limitations:
Our study was conducted by volunteers -- not trained scientists.
The people studied were not random, rather, they were selected by a snowball method. This means interviewers asked people they knew to participate, and then asked participants to recommend the next interviewee.
It is not a randomized sampling, therefore, it cannot be generalized to all of Elgin, and if the study was conducted again, it could not be guaranteed that the same answers would be found.
Our study was coded by two graduate students in Nashville, TN. Due to time limitations, they split the work up rather than both of them reading all of the lines of coding and cross-checking.Then they were asked if they were willing to share their demographic information.
Coding:
“Parent codes” were created, each with a set of “child codes.” In the first question codes, the “Validate” parent code was built based on needs assessments that have been completed in Elgin in the past 15 years. Themes in the validate category have been studied by other organizations and are already being addressed. The parent category titled “elevate” represents new data that previous studies have not identified.
Because the questions are open ended, people’s answers are sometimes counted in multiple code categories if they listed multiple problems or multiple resources/skills. What is counted is the number of responses that fit that code.
Results
QUESTION 1
“Make a list of your top 3-5 biggest problems in your community or in the city of Elgin. Which would you fix first?”
Validate
| Child Code* | Number of Responses |
|---|---|
| Housing and houselessness | 241 |
| Education system | 90 |
| Economy | 67 |
| Violence and crime | 66 |
| Poverty and economic inequality | 57 |
| Transportation | 51 |
The “Validate” category, which was based on previous needs assessments, showcases the overwhelming number of people who confirmed that there is a housing crisis in Elgin. Almost half of all people who were asked an open-ended question about the needs in Elgin identified housing as a primary issue. This clearly illustrates that this issue is on the minds and hearts of Elginites, and needs to be addressed in a collaborative, comprehensive way.
Elevate
| Child Code* | Number of Responses |
|---|---|
| Lack of unity | 142 |
| Youth engagement | 58 |
| Prejudice | 45 |
| Curb appeal | 35 |
| Faith | 27 |
| Advocacy for Latinx Community | 25 |
| Bi-lingual resources | 19 |
| Childcare | 18 |
The number one thing that One Collective Elgin identified as an issue that no one else is talking about in their needs assessments is the lack of unity.
When people picked what they would solve first, the lack of unity in the community was mentioned most frequently. In fact, lack of unity was mentioned as the main issue more than twice as often as the next most frequent response.
Participants described lack of unity in a number of different ways including -- churches isolating themselves, racism or fear of people who are different, beliefs about gender and sexual orientation, lack of emphasis on celebrating existing diversity, and lack of opportunities to come together.
*Results for Question 1 (n=511)
There is one more important thing that isn’t visible in the chart. As interviewers met with people, no comprehensive work against human-trafficking has been found. Multiple organizations that work to fight trafficking have stated that our demographics indicate we likely have a significant human-trafficking issues, but no one -- not the police, social services, or schools have any data on the issue. Research and work must be done in this area.
The issues in our community are beginning to emerge. People are being trafficked in our community. There are tremendous issues in our community with housing. There are too few youth-dedicated spaces, strong mentoring programs, or opportunities for young people to grow. And participants state that the result is a lot of disenfranchised youth, a high dropout rate, and a lack of hope.
Question 2
“What resources or skills do you have that you would be willing to contribute to solving any of the problems in our city?”
Personal
| Child Code* | Number of Responses |
|---|---|
| Volunteering | 261 |
| Networks | 87 |
| Language/Bi-lingual | 28 |
Professional
| Child Code* | Number of Responses |
|---|---|
| Skilled Labor/Services | 111 |
| Job training or jobs | 17 |
Donations
| Child Code* | Number of Responses |
|---|---|
| Donation | 33 |
*Results for Question 2 (n=511)
This second question leads to a mind-blowing realization: over 50% of participants are willing to volunteer in some capacity. Over 20% of people stated that they had specialized skills that they could use to help in the community. There is a wild amount of untapped human capital in our city. Unfortunately, most of the time, we ask people to contribute to a drive or a fundraiser. Can you imagine what would happen if all of the volunteer potential in Elgin was unleashed?
There are a lot of people in this community that want to help. In order to maximize potential, it is critical that people and resources are aligned. We have to develop shared goals, we have to empower people, and we have to solve our problems together.
There are a few things that we noticed during the study that are not represented in these charts.
The first is that there is tremendous strength in our local churches. We have over 100 churches in Elgin. It would be incredible to see them come together to solve problems. There is a strong nonprofit network in the EHSC. More organizations are willing to collaborate to accomplish more together.
And the second is that the Latinx population is currently underrepresented in leadership. The 2020 census is projected to tell us that the Latinx population represents greater than 50% of the population in Elgin, but there are few leaders in government, school, business, or executive level leadership. The Latinx population is full of potential to develop leadership and resources. It would transform the community if Latinos were invited and empowered to make an impact.
We need to
Solve the housing crisis
Fight trafficking
Engage our youth
Bring people together by
Aligning resources
Creating coalitions
Empowering the Latinx in the community
Change Happening Today
The key to the strategy in Elgin is "bringing people together" and whenever that happens - change is the result. Since the launch of One Collective in Elgin in the summer of 2019, 1 new staff member has joined our team. 10 people volunteered to contribute 20 or more conversations, spending dozens of hours logging these conversations with the added benefit of getting to know friends and neighbors better. In the spring, 25 Judson University students in a Christian Missions class participated by meeting between 5-20 people of a different racial or ethnic background from themselves and logging their conversations. 2 data-specialists spent dozens of hours studying lines of data. Over 100 people have chosen to partner financially to help launch the project.
60+ Local Partnerships
non-profits, city departments, the school district,& 2 colleges
30,000+ People Reached
DURING THE “ELGIN CARES” CAMPAIGN
100+ Financial Partners
EQUIPPING ELGIN FOR THE FUTURE
When COVID-19 hit, the priority of these conversations changed from information gathering to collaborative problem-solving. Over 60 organizations including non-profits, city departments, the school district, and both colleges in Elgin joined the COVID-19 response calls our team organized. As part of these calls, a dozen volunteers organized 100s of volunteers to serve in food pantries and mobile pop-ups so that people could access food. Out of these organizing efforts, Bobby was elected the Chair of the Elgin Human Services Council (EHSC), a group made of the executive directors of Human Service Organizations, and dozens of ED’s joined the Council this summer. Members seek to learn from each other and align their limited resources so they can serve the most people possible.
Together, the EHSC created a mental health campaign called “Elgin Cares,” and developed a mental health tool, which is a social media and print resource for people to use to check-in on themselves and share with their friends and neighbors. Each organization in the EHSC shared this campaign on their own social media page and the result was that in three weeks, the Elgin Cares Facebook received over 1000 follows and over 30,000 views on Facebook. The team translated it into both English and Spanish and are now hard at work distributing 5,000 hard copies of the mental health check-in tool around the city with the goal of printing another 16,000 copies in the next couple of months. This campaign grew so rapidly that the Daily Herald sought us out to report on our work. The Facebook site and social media handles are now being used as a platform for other shared social services initiatives.
You can participate in this collaborative work by following the page yourself and sharing it with your friends (click here to go to the site)
As the research continued, it was discovered that there are people trapped all around us in human-trafficking and that there are no organized, consistent anti-trafficking efforts in Kane county. Our friends at Naomi’s House agreed to expand their efforts to care for victims of trafficking to Elgin. People came together to help them find space to run programming and organized their first fundraiser this past September. A coalition of people who want to fight against trafficking on both the victim and “demand” sides are beginning to form.
So -- where is One Collective Elgin now? Over the past two months, a decision-making council made up of business owners, pastors, politicians, and social activists have been assembled to help us develop a long-term strategy. At the beginning of 2021, we will take our list of resources and community strengths and begin to confront the issues that have been discovered. Check out the video below to see what we’re actually going to be doing.
Across Elgin:
100+ Volunteers helped Year of Learning and the COVID-19 response
25 Judson Students
5 Interns
2 Data Specialists
1 New Staff Member
60+ organizations
City of Elgin, Elgin Police, U-46 School District, Daily Herald
Naomi’s House, an anti-trafficking organization recruited to Elgin
6 members joined our decision-making council
A Life Changed
When I first heard about One Collective, I thought, "What is this group and what do they want to do in my city?" As I began to learn and see the work being done in my hometown I was drawn to what was going on. For the past few years, I developed a burden for Elgin.
My heart hurt when I thought about the youth and Hispanic community. I remember how my friends and I felt a disconnect from our own community growing up and, honestly, continue to feel it even as adults. In Elgin, there are few places to hang out and scarce mentor programs.
I believe there is a lot of untapped potential because of the oppressive systems that existed and still exist. The One Collective Team has the heart to hear directly from the people of Elgin. They asked me what I would like to see change and what I had to offer to fix problems. They wanted to know my thoughts, and they wanted to empower me to take action.
Their intent to learn and willingness to follow-up drew me in. In fact, it was so magnetic that I joined the One Collective Elgin staff team this year! I'm excited about this part of my journey to learn, work, and invest in Elgin. I hope to see a stronger and more unified city. I’m excited to engage intentionally with youth, fight against human trafficking, and help seek out solutions for the housing crisis.
Kayla Rodriguez,
One Collective Elgin Community Ambassador
Where One Collective Elgin is Headed
The key to lasting change is working together.
When you join our team in Elgin as a partner, your involvement means that needs across the city can be addressed. It's because of you that a foundation for lasting change is being built today. There are 4 things you can do right now:
Dream about what it could look like for every person in the City of Elgin would have access to food, freedom, and forgiveness. Begin to harness the energy that comes from that dreaming!
The more people that you tell what One Collective Elgin is doing, the more likely the person with the right resource will be matched with the person with the right need. Click here to see the social media page, then, click "share."
Partner financially. We are currently fundraising to launch a support group for people affected by sex-trafficking, we're working to bring on a new staff person, and we’re preparing to engage in more areas as people come together. The more you give, the more can be accomplished.
Click here to become a financial partner and set-up a recurring monthly gift.
Come for a few hours and have some conversations. Meet the people you want to impact. Come meet a need. Click the calendar link below to sign up to talk with a team member. We’ll get to know you better, and you will be paired with a customized opportunity.
You can make an impact when you come together with the whole community