In my first blog in my role of Research and Data Intern with the Foundation, I talked about the work I am doing to look into what services, provisions and groups are available to young families in Letchworth. After spending most of my internship so far doing research, it has been good over the last couple of weeks to begin to engage with the public and service professionals.
As I mentioned in my last post, I have been trying to build up a good basis of understanding of how the current system works, to feed into a workshop for frontline service providers. At this meeting I encouraged those in attendance to map the systems their own organisations currently use. This was primarily to help myself, and the Foundation, to answer several questions:
- Where does funding come from?
- What services are currently offered by organisations?
- How do groups/organisations currently work together?
- Which areas are being forgotten about?
The meeting really gave me some things to consider when going forward with this project and it was very important to hear the concerns and ideas of those who work on the frontline of this sector every day.
User Survey
The biggest movement since my last post has been the launch of the user survey. This is aimed at any parents, guardians or carers of children under the age of 12, who live – or spend a significant amount of time – in Letchworth. The survey will take 5-10 minutes to complete and, if you choose to enter an email address at the end, will enter you into a random prize draw. The prizes on offer are a family pass to Standalone Farm, a family ticket to Broadway Cinema or an Amazon gift voucher! The deadline for the draw is the 16th July, and while you’ll still be able to respond after this date, you will not be entered into the prize draw.
So far I have spent a couple of (warm) afternoons at Standalone Farm and, last weekend, attended the Kids Club screening at Broadway Cinema to get the survey out there. It’s important that as many users of services in Letchworth get involved, so that we can begin to build up an accurate map of how, why and when people are accessing services in Letchworth. So over the next couple of weeks you may see me at the Farm, Cinema or even at events around Letchworth and I will also be looking to attend classes at the Children’s Centres and others around the town. But, in case you don’t, the link below will take you to the survey, which you can fill out in your own time. Alternatively, you can pop into the Tourist Information Centre on Station Road to pick up a paper copy.
The link for the survey is: https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4421365/Service-User-Survey
