The Ingham Observer

February 1996 Lansing, Michigan

The Ingham Observer

Hello and thank you to all of you on Ingham who participated in our sense of community survey! Fifteen households were active in the survey, and you gave us some great information. The results are in, and we are happy to bring them to you!

Ingham is home

Many of you reported how much you like or love living on this block, (71%)! Another 21% of you don’t mind living on Ingham. All of you reported talking to your neighbors -- about half of you said "sometimes" and the other half said "fairly often." Seventy one percent (71%) of you get together to socialize. Nearly half of you reported volunteering your time to help someone on your block without compensation!

Connection

The most amazing feature of Ingham is how connected people are!

82% of you agreed that Ingham residents talk to each other about community problems

70% of you really like your neighbors and even consider some of them as friends

64% of you agreed that people on this block know each other

These are great characteristics for a neighborhood to have. In fact, almost all of you on Ingham (85%) report that you feel the sense of community is "just about right."

Safety On Ingham

We were generally left with the impression that Ingham is friendly, quiet, and safe. Over half of you (67%) reported no problems at all. There are some concerns about dangerous and reckless driving, and there have been complaints of theft and drugs. The majority of you (71%), however, said that there is less criminal activity on Ingham than on other blocks in the city.

Working Together

Eighty-six percent (86%) of you are interested in working with your neighbors to improve conditions on the block. Twenty-one (21%) of you are either very or somewhat interested in assuming a leadership role on Ingham! With this high level of interest, any of you who would like to start a project should be able to find lots of help! Some of the suggestions you gave us to improve the block were:

getting acquainted and more cooperation with each other

more organization in the newly formed neighborhood organization

watching out for each other

Overall

The main point that we’d like to leave you with is that Ingham is a GREAT block where people like and cooperate with each other. There are some concerns, but there is also a large number of people who are interested in helping make conditions on Ingham even better!

If you want more information about this survey, please do not hesitate to call John Schweitzer, 353-9144,Urban Affairs Programs at Michigan State University.