Columbia encourages residents to complete survey on equity and inclusion
Sometimes you have to know where you stand to figure out where you need to go.
With a new survey it is offering to residents, the City of Columbia is hoping to glean information that will lead to a more equitable future.
Columbia City Council and the Commission on the Future of Columbia are asking residents to fill out an equity and inclusion survey, with the hope that findings from the survey will help enhance social equity in the Capital City and provide better access to quality of life opportunities.
The Commission on the Future of Columbia is a diverse group of more than two dozen citizens that was convened by city council earlier this year following protests and calls for racial justice after the death of Black citizen George Floyd while in police custody in Minnesota.
The equity and inclusion survey asks residents to rate Columbia in a number of metrics, from how much it values residents from diverse backgrounds to how welcoming it is to members of the LGBTQ community to whether or not the local government treats people fairly, and beyond. The survey, which takes about eight minutes to complete, is available until Dec. 31. There also is a Spanish language version.
Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin said the survey is just one piece of the work being done by the Commission on the Future of Columbia.
“We really wanted to get a diverse group of stakeholders in the room and foster a dialogue that could lead to much larger discussions that would help bring the community together and maybe even serve as a model for other communities,” Benjamin told The State. “With this survey, it’s a broad reach, where we are asking people for their own perceptions of the community.
“We hope it helps us not just use data, but humanize that data in a way that might prove incredibly useful in building a healthy Columbia.”
The third-term mayor pointed out that protests and unrest across the nation through the summer illuminated the distinct need for a discussion about equity and inclusion.
“I think that the events of 2020 have pushed all of us to think more aggressively and more broadly about how we can build truly equitable communities,” Benjamin said. “That is the goal, to stretch and put ourselves, sometimes, into uncomfortable territory and realize the power of trying to work for the good together. That takes, in 2020, a great degree of intentionality. This survey is trying to get a sense of the body and how we can move forward together.”
Jazmyne McCrae is a member of the Commission on the Future of Columbia, and part of a working group on equity within the commission. She said the commission is hoping for a strong response to the equity and inclusion survey.
“For me, personally, I hope we have a lot of input from our younger residents here,” said McCrae, a graduate student at the University of South Carolina and an organizer in racial justice efforts. “I want to hear from people my age, and even younger. (People) from 18 to their mid-30s, we need to hear what they want from their city.
“We also want to hear from our most marginalized communities. Not just race-based, but ability-based, especially in terms of accessibility and navigation around our city.”
The city’s equity and inclusion survey is anonymous, and McCrae implored those who take it to be honest.
The young activist is hopeful that the results from the survey can help inform city policy.
“We have this incredibly diverse city with intergenerational families, newcomers, bilingual (citizens),” McCrae said. “There are a lot of different needs out there, so we really need input from the city, not just from one group or one zip code, but from all of them, to understand where the needs are.”
This story was originally published November 25, 2020 at 8:51 AM.
