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.

Validate

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

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.

Personal

Professional

Donations

*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. 

We need to

• Solve the housing crisis

• Engage our youth

Build unity and equity by bringing people together to

• Create coalitions

• Align resources

• Empower local leadership