ASSET MAPPING SURVEY SET SATURDAY

The Community Caring Council will start its asset mapping project by conducting door-to-door surveys Saturday in neighborhoods served by Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and May Greene schools.

"There's a small questionnaire of about five or six questions," said Shelba Branscum, chairwoman of the council's Community Partnership Resource Board. "It's not a long, time-consuming thing; it's mostly questions like: What are the good things about your neighborhood? What kind of activities do you enjoy? We're just generally trying to discover what are the good things about the neighborhoods, so we're going to go out and collect them."

Assets are in the eye of the beholder, said Shirley Ramsey, executive coordinator of the Community Caring Council.

"We're looking for a lot of things. We're looking at resources in the community, agencies that are located there, services that are provided there," said Ramsey. Businesses, churches, day-care centers and all the services those entities provide are also counted as assets, she said. Even things as basic as public telephones can be considered assets in areas where not every family has a telephone in their home.

"We're also looking for the residents in those neighborhoods and what kind of strengths and skills they have to offer," Ramsey said. "We're going to be asking people if they feel like they have any skills they can give to their neighborhood."

While organizers are learning about the neighborhoods, she said, residents might learn a little about themselves.

"I think the process is actually going to be more important than the information," she said. Canvassers will be able to make first-hand observations about the neighborhoods and meet face-to-face with residents, Ramsey pointed out.

"Also, the people, as they answer the questions will realize, hey, I've got a lot more skills than I thought."

Surveys will be conducted between 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Saturday, and volunteers are needed to conduct them.

"We are calling it the `Walk the Walk' Day," said Jo Boyer, executive coordinator of the Caring Communities program. "We hope to mobilize from 300 to 400 people to canvass the neighborhoods."

Organizers are encouraging clubs, organizations and youth groups to get involved as canvassers. "We have some funds through a Caring Communities planning grant to help with this effort," Branscum said. "We are offering a donation of $20 per person to groups who participate. We believe this can be a great way for groups to raise funds, and at the same time have a positive experience in getting to know our community better.

Any group or organization can participate. Youth groups must have adult supervision and youths must be 14. Individuals are welcome who just want to help out.

Data collected Saturday will be compiled and analyzed for use in renewing state funding for the Caring Communities program. May Greene, Washington, Franklin and Jefferson schools are all service sites for that program, which helps at-risk students and their families.

Eventually, asset mapping will be done all over the city as part of the Healthy Communities assessment process.

Saturday's surveys are only one component of the process, Branscum said.

Other teams will actually map out people, facilities and services located in the neighborhoods, analyze the data and eventually identify "gaps in services" where residents' needs are not being met, she said.

For more information or to volunteer, call 290-5567 or 290-5568.