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09/08/2015 02:30 PMThe Valley Shore Y wants to hear residents’ and Y members’ views of the most pressing community needs for youth and adults and how the Y could help address them. To collect those perspectives, the Valley Shore Y has posted an online survey and asks area residents over the age of 18 to complete it before Wednesday, Sept. 30.
The survey will be used to help the Y decide what it needs to do over the next years as it seeks to make facility improvements that are matched to neighborhood needs.
“The Community Needs Assessment Survey is step one. Exploring a capital campaign would be step two. We first want to cast our net broadly to get feedback from as many residents of the shoreline as possible to determine what Y partnerships, programs, and facilities will allow us to best serve the community,” said Valley Shore Y Executive Director Chris Pallato.
Among the needs being assessed in the survey are needs related to healthy living, youth development, and social responsibility. One goal is to identify ways in which the Y could partner with other non-profits to combat community issues like child obesity or chronic disease.
“We are following a really disciplined approach to this capital campaign to make sure it is successful and best meets the needs of our membership and our community,” said Pallato. “Our goal is also to find out how we can work with other groups and organizations to meet community needs” the survey identifies.
Valley Shore Y members received an email with a link to the survey. Non-Y members interested in completing the Community Needs Assessment Survey should go to the Valley Shore Y webpage (vsymca.org) and click on the Survey box to access the survey.
All information collected through the online survey is kept confidential, according to Pallato. No personal information that could uniquely identify a survey responder will be recorded.
The survey does ask responders to provide general demographic information that describes them to help provide context for each survey’s responses. Respondents are asked, for example, to choose an age range in which they fall and, if willing, their gender and zip code.
“We launched the survey on Sept. 7 and it will remain open online until Sept. 30,” said Pallato. “We expect the get the results back by mid-October.”
Once the results are available, Pallato said they will be presented to the public.
The Y is conducting the needs assessment survey at this time in part due to the challenge or opportunity presented by the recent failure of the Valley Shore Y’s original warm-water pool. The covered area in which that now-empty pool lies remains enclosed and the roof waterproof. So how should or could the Y use this space in the future to meet community needs? Some answers to this question may be suggested by the results of the community needs assessment survey.
The warm pool failure didn’t affect the newer Valley Shore Y swimming pool, which remains available for aquatics programming and lap swimming. With only one pool available, however, “creative scheduling” has been necessary, Pallato said. Also, the remaining pool’s temperature has been raised a few degrees to accommodate the varied participants that must use the single pool.
“Fall programming has kept all of the core services, but there is more sharing of time slots now. We’re very fortunate to have one nice new pool,” said Pallato.
The Y Board has organized two committees of volunteers to oversee both the needs assessment survey and the capital campaign plans that will likely arise from it. The Campaign Capacity Committee, chaired by Lisa LeMonte, Guilford Savings Bank’s community development officer, is working with current and potential Y donors. The Campaign Preparation Committee, chaired by Jacqui Waddock, a VP at Webster Bank, will oversee the needs assessment survey, the presentation of the survey results to the public, and the logistics of the capital campaign that will follow from it.
Shoreline area residents have until Sept. 30 to record their views by completing the Valley Shore Y’s online Community Needs Assessment Survey at vsymca.org.