Press Release from Town of Guilford

The Town of Guilford is proud to introduce a powerful, new community survey tool aimed at strengthening community trust by better understanding resident concerns regarding a wide range of town services and the local quality of life. This initiative emphasizes the importance of listening to and valuing the voices of Guilford residents, ensuring their priorities are addressed effectively. The survey, developed in partnership with Zencity, provides residents with the opportunity to express their views on critical aspects of life in the Town of Guilford, including affordable housing, education, transportation, and public safety.

Residents of Guilford will be able to answer a number of questions related to their views on living in town, including their sense of safety, parks and recreation amenities, cultural activities, infrastructure maintenance, and availability of affordable housing. In addition, residents will also be asked for areas where the town could improve.

This is the latest effort in the town’s ongoing initiatives to solicit feedback from the community in a manner similar to the surveys related to cannabis, as well as the zoning code rewrite recently undertaken by the Planning and Zoning Commission. The launch marks the latest step in Guilford’s ongoing efforts to foster community trust and engagement.

First Selectman Matthew Hoey expressed his dedication to this endeavor.

“We are always striving to get input from residents, and this partnership with Zencity will be instrumental in truly understanding the needs and concerns of our residents to make the best decisions for the future of our town,” Hoey said.

Eyal Feder-Levy, CEO of Zencity, acknowledged the forward-thinking leadership of First Selectman Hoey, underscoring the importance of local governments leveraging data on resident needs and priorities.

“We are proud to provide a platform for towns like Guilford to reach more voices in the community and turn that input into action,” said Feder-Levy.

This initiative builds on an existing partnership between the Town of Guilford and Zencity, a global technology company community trust to enhance the responsiveness of local governments through more meaningful engagement. Since 2020, Guilford has worked with Zencity to better understand the feedback residents are already voicing about the issues that matter to them the most—whether on publicly available social media channels, comments on traditional news sources, or through official town channels like 311—helping the town to hear from all corners of the community. Zencity works with hundreds of municipalities across the U.S., including Chicago, Phoenix, Seattle, and San Diego, on issues ranging from public safety, service management, capital projects, and more.

Survey Methodology

Zencity’s community survey incorporates voices from every corner of the community. To do so, Zencity sets response targets based on U.S. Census data about the municipality. Zencity ensures the security and privacy of its data and survey respondents. Survey responses are anonymous unless a respondent chooses to share their email address for follow-up purposes. Regardless, survey responses are kept confidential. Zencity does not collect a respondent’s name, address, or any other personally identifying information. Zencity’s weighting accounts for the responses of every single person who answered a question. The responses give a proportional voice to all demographics (e.g., by age, sex, race, education level, and income level) based on the makeup of the municipality.