Kick-Off Survey & first Meeting-in-a-Box

Th Kick-Off Survey was launched on October 13, 2009, (after the Kick-Off Open House) and was kept open to the public through March 1. Surveys were available online and at Austin Public Libraries.

The Meeting-in-a-Box was introduced following the first Community Forums in November 2009. In paper or digitally, meeting hosts were provided with all the materials necessary to host the equivalent to a break-out session from the November public meetings, for 5 to 10 friends, coworkers, neighbors, or whomever else. See the Meeting-in-a-Box contents. Boxes will be distributed to the public through February 19, 2010, with responses due March 1.

Both were designed to follow the questions asked in the first Community Forums:

• What are Austin's strengths? (survey results (Excel))
• What are Austin's challenges? (survey results (Excel))
• Tell us what Austin is like in 2039 if this plan achieves everything you hope it does. (survey results (Excel))

Both of these tools allowed us to target parts of the Austin community who did not attend the Open House or Community Forums. This helps ensure that Imagine Austin reflects the broad Austin community. At the January meetings of the Citizens Advisory Task Force and Comprehensive Plan Committee, staff presented a mid-point review of the demographics of Community forum participants, survey respondents, and Meeting-in-a-Box participants, noting that the Asian-American results are an example of the success of this strategy.

Results from the survey and Meetings-in-a-Box will shape the Vision statement, and will be posted here after all responses have been received.