Upper Valley Needs Assessment Research Surveying Community Leaders Joby Bernstein ’17 Wafaa Ahmed ‘17 Joby This report was written by undergraduate students at Dartmouth College under the direction of professors in the Rockefeller Center. Policy Research Shop (PRS) students produce non-partisan policy analyses and present their findings in a non-advocacy manner. The PRS is fully endowed by the Dartmouth Class of 1964 through a class gift in celebration of its 50th Anniversary given to the Center. This endowment ensures that the Policy Research Shop will continue to produce high-quality, non-partisan policy research for policymakers in New Hampshire and Vermont.

Overview Meta-Analysis Survey Methodology Survey Results Conclusion Joby

Meta-Analysis Findings Employment Opportunities and Affordable Housing High cost of living Lack of public transportation Poverty and graduation rates are unequally distributed Healthcare Disparities tied to income and employment Key issues: substance abuse, mental health, affordable insurance Billy

Meta-Analysis Findings Education Educational attainment varies dramatically by county Implications for employment Community Engagement Opinions of the Upper Valley are positive overall Rural residents more likely to report isolation from community Billy

Survey Methodology Community Leader Census Distribution Town Clerks Contact Town Websites Tax Filing Addresses Includes all 69 towns in Upper Valley Service Area Over 300 community leaders included Distribution Mail Survey (~70 responses) Online Survey (~25 responses) Telephone Survey (~20 responses) Billy

PRS Survey Instrument 19 Question Survey Three Sections Current Issue/Problem Assessment Opinion on community and cooperation between towns Opinion on Upper Valley and local non-profit organizations 115 Responses Analyzed at individual and town level Survey found on pages 14-16 in the report Billy

Survey Response Map Billy Number of Responses from Each Town. Darker shades indicate a greater number of responses.

Survey Results Most Important Issues Facing Your Town Today Joby Question 15 from the PRS Survey

Survey Results Geographic Concentration of Needs Assessment Lack of Jobs: Western UV towns in Vermont Economic Development and lack of Infrastructure: Southern towns in UV Affordable Housing: UV hub Drug Addiction: Southern UV towns, mostly in Vermont Transportation access: Vermont towns not bordering the river 73 percent of participants believed that that major issues in their town were similar to neighboring communities 56 percent agreed that these issues would be better addressed by coordinated efforts Joby

Survey Results Coordinated Efforts in Upper Valley What is currently being addressed well: Billy Well-Coordinated Efforts in the Upper Valley. Based on Question 18 from the Survey.

Survey Results Community Assessment Participants believed that citizens felt more connected to their own town than the Upper Valley Participants felt that citizens could to more to create linkages between organizations and thought this would make the town better Current effective cooperative relationships cited: Emergency Services Schools Senior Care Transportation Billy

Survey Results Upper Valley Community Assessment Participants felt that organizations generally served their town or that there wasn’t much outreach between organizations from other towns Hub of the Upper Valley considered to be in Lebanon, Hanover, WRJ, and Hartford Billy

Survey Results Upper Valley Community Assessment 2/3 of community leaders wanted to see greater cooperation across the Upper Valley Billy Based on Question 13 in the survey

Discussion Comments at the end of survey allowed us to hear different opinions Many focused on how non-profits tend to stick the hub towns, and many questioned if they were part of the UV community Questioned ability to enact coordinated efforts in isolated towns on the borders of the UV Billy

Conclusions Meta Analysis and PRS Instrument indicate similar findings Variety of needs with focus on structural economic changes (i.e., taxes, economy, infrastructure), schools, and drugs Joby Coordinated efforts have been successful and are viewed favorably by community leaders Discussion centered around differences between communities and isolation from the hub

Appendix Information Distributed Survey and Responses Results Frequency Table All Color Coded Maps can be accessed online http://discovery.dartmouth.edu/~gnelson/uv- map/