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Community Assessment - First Impressions Program Description

Last modified 2008-08-01 13:21

Community Assessment

First Impressions Program

Purpose

Ever wonder what impressions a first-time visitor to your community walks away with? We know what is special about where we live, but do tourists or business travelers find this a place that they would choose to return? Even though the answers to these questions could be so helpful in targeting our community and economic development efforts, we are unlikely to ever gain this knowledge. First Impressions: A Program for Community Improvement provides communities with information concerning how they look and feel to first-time visitors. Data gained through this process can be used to identify what could be improved in your community, enhancing your image to the outside world.

There are three program offerings through First Impressions:

Community Program
Downtown/Main Street Program
Corridor/Byway Program

The Process

A community, byway or downtown (hereinafter referred to as “community”) who applies to participate in the First Impressions Program is paired with another community of similar size and character. Teams of volunteer visitors are trained. They anonymously visit the other community and complete a survey of their first impressions including the physical condition, friendliness and attractiveness of the place they have visited. The results of their input are compiled into a final report that is then shared with the other community.

1. Sponsoring Organization Selected:

An organization in the community, such as the Chamber of Commerce, Convention and Visitor’s Group, Main Street Program, local citizen’s group or community development advisory board agrees to sponsor the program and manage the process at the local level.

2. Communities are paired:

Members of the Community Awareness Team from Ohio State University Extension find another community that is similar in size and character. Communities do not need to be identical, but should be close in size or makeup; for instance, one community that wants to build its tourism potential as a location on a major river might be matched with a similar size community with the same interests.

3. Visitation Teams are Created and Visits are Conducted:

Teams of four to five volunteers are created in each community. The purpose of these teams is to visit the other community and record their impressions in written form on a survey provided by Extension. The make-up of the teams is important, and might include community and economic development directors, Chamber of Commerce executives, Business people, tourism staff, county extension faculty, elected officials and citizens groups. It is important that these teams visit their paired community anonymously, perhaps posing as tourists, business visitors, shoppers or potential residents. Their responsibility is to walk and/or drive through the community, recording their overall impressions of the friendliness and helpfulness of residents, ease of access to services, directional and informational signage, and appearance of the community. Public buildings, parks, industrial and retail areas, residential neighborhoods, scenic byways, downtown business districts will be evaluated depending on the type of program. Characteristics will be noted on the survey.

The Report

Once the site visits and surveys have been completed by each team from the paired communities, the visitors will decide how best to share the results. Options may include:

A face-to-face meeting between community representatives will be held. Results of the visit will be shared by each community’s team with the other. Then, each team can go back home and share the results with their constituents.

Extension faculty can meet with each community separately, go over the survey results, and then present them to community stakeholders and residents.
Each community can receive the report from the other and present the results themselves to their own stakeholders and residents.

Potential Uses of the Program

The First Impressions Program can be used as a stand-alone program solely for the purpose of providing community leaders with issues to address through their economic and community development programs. It can also be used to gather data in concert with other planning efforts such as Extension’s Sustainable Communities Programs and/or Downtown Market Analysis Program. It is useful for communities wishing to enhance their business attraction efforts or tourism plans by providing an unbiased view of how their community appears to others and the impression they leave as a place to live or visit or do business.

Program Cost

The First Impressions Program fee is $250 per community/corridor/downtown. This cost includes materials and guidance by the Community Awareness Team. All other costs, including the cost of the visit itself and local coordination of the process will be the responsibility of the community.