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Dear community members age [55 and up -- adjust to minimum age of sample], We need your input! The [City / County / State / Area Agency on Aging / State Agency on Aging] is conducting the Community Assessment Survey of Older Adults to better understand the contributions that adults [55+] make to their communities, as well as the needs they have and challenges they experience. Your feedback will help us be sure that our policies and programs align with our residents’ values. You can find the survey here: polco.us/[shorturl]. We encourage all residents age [55] and up to participate! The survey will only take 10-15 minutes to complete, and your feedback will directly influence the decisions and plans of local government, foundations, AAAs, nonprofits serving the aging population, and other organizations serving our community. If you have any questions about the survey, please contact [name] at [phone] or [email]. This survey is conducted in partnership with Polco, an online civic engage
Let your community know that you’re launching The Community Assessment Survey for Older Adults (CASOA)! We’ve created the templates below to help you spread the word about the initial survey launch and prepare residents who may be randomly selected to participate. Sharing the news on social media can help boost participation rates by assuring residents that those mailings are part of a legitimate survey effort from their local leaders, and that you value their input. We recommend posting a different message for the first few weeks that the survey is open, to reach residents as survey invitations are landing in their mailboxes. These suggested posts are optimized for platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Nextdoor. Simply replace the bracketed text with the right information for your community or organization, then copy and paste into your social media platform. To help increase your reach, encourage staff, councilmembers, community partners, and local news outlets to “like” and “sha
Let your community know that you’re launching The National Community Survey (The NCS)! We’ve created the templates below to help you spread the word about the initial survey launch and prepare residents who may be randomly selected to participate. Sharing the news on social media can help boost participation rates by assuring residents that those mailings are part of a legitimate survey effort from their local leaders, and that you value their input. We recommend posting a different message for the first few weeks that the survey is open, to reach residents as survey invitations are landing in their mailboxes. These suggested posts are optimized for platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Nextdoor. Simply fill in the blanks to personalize the text for your community or organization, then copy and paste into your social media platform. To help increase your reach, encourage staff, councilmembers, community partners, and local news outlets to “like” and “share” your social media posts
Streamline your processes by having all your resident engagement in one place. To transition subscribers from another engagement platform to Polco, follow these steps: Download a list of subscribers, residents, or registered users from your other engagement platform. You may be able to do this on your own, or you may need to ask the platform to give you a list. Once you have the list of emails, import them into Polco as an email list. Send an email through Polco to these individuals, inviting them to provide input through Polco and subscribe to be notified about future engagement opportunities. Sample email script:“Hello, resident! The XYZ (City, Town, County) of ABC (Insert City/Town/County Name here) is transitioning from [other engagement platform] to Polco for ongoing community engagement. We value your opinions and want to make it easier for you to share input on important issues in our community. Please help us make better, more informed decisions by engaging with us on Po
After the analysis for your project is complete, your project manager will provide a link to your report of results. While we recommend viewing the results online, you can download those results as a PDF report to share with your colleagues and community. Here’s how to do so.Begin by clicking on your closed survey. On the right, you’ll see a box entitled “Actions.” Click “Download PDF” at the bottom of that section. Once the PDF downloads, you can save it to your computer, print, and/or attach to an email as needed.
Learn how GPAL synthesizes a mass of public data so government leaders can connect with their communities, better understand quality of life, and make informed decisions. A cross-industry collaboration, Government Performance Action and Learning (GPAL), has transformed government performance measurement. Polco and academic, government, and private partners amassed a rich database using public information. GPAL synthesizes the public data into easy-to-read indicators on community livability. “[It’s] performance measurement doesn’t include a bunch of spreadsheets and data entry,” said Jonathan Wiersma, Polco’s Vice President of Marketing. In this press conference, Wiersma, Michelle Kobayashi, Polco Vice President of Innovation, and Tobin McKearin, Polco Vice President of Data Science, give attendees a closer look at GPAL and its capabilities. See the full press conference on this exciting launch here!
Curious about the difference between probability-based versus open participation surveys? Here are some details: What's an open participation survey and what are the benefits?An open participation survey is offered to all residents in a community. This method is important because it provides engagement opportunities to all, thus often providing a higher number of completed responses overall and for population sub-groups. It can be less resource intensive and require less time from administration to actionable data. It is programmed as an online survey with invitations sent widely through as many communication channels as possible (social media, email lists, newsletters, media reporting, etc.). Open participation surveys also can benefit from snowball sampling whereby existing survey respondents can recruit their friends and acquaintances and response grows like a rolling snowball. This sampling method can be used to elevate general awareness of the research effort and increase overall
We’d love to learn more from thought leaders like you around what problems in government should be a focus for innovation! Our product team has been very focused on improving your experience with Polco, and we would love your feedback. We have created the Local Government Innovation Survey to provide you the opportunity to do so! At your convenience, please share your thoughts with us! Your feedback helps us learn and start conversations that can lead to new ways to empower residents and raise communities!
Emailing your subscribers is a great way to let them know when you post a new survey or poll on Polco. Polco makes it easy to let them know you need their input. There are two ways to email your subscribers on Polco: 1) when creating a survey or poll and 2) when you want to share a survey or poll you’ve already published. When creating a new survey or poll, you’ll see this feature as part of the publishing process. Once you get to the Outreach page of the publishing process, you’ll see the toggle to “email all subscribers” along with the ability to send a survey invitation to your email lists. When you want to share a survey you’ve already published, or remind your subscribers to take the survey, click on your survey and click “Share and Manage Access.” Scroll down to “Email to Subscribers and Invitees.” Edit the email to say whatever you’d like. Then toggle on “email to all subscribers.” This will send an email to all of your subscribers inviting them to take your survey.
Emailing your community is an important way to let them know about your survey on Polco. Previously, Polco sent an email to all subscribers every Thursday letting them know about local governments requesting their input. This Thursday email included links to surveys in the jurisdictions to which they had subscribed. In this way, subscribers got a reminder each week to respond to surveys currently open on the city’s profile. Recent changes replaced the Thursday email with a new form of email outreach. Instead of reminding subscribers each Thursday to answer open surveys, subscribers will receive an email as soon as your survey is published. You can toggle this feature on or off on Polco for each survey. Subscribers will only be notified by email of surveys they haven’t voted on yet. To use this feature, create a survey or navigate to a currently published survey. If using a currently published survey, click “Share and Manage Access.” Scroll down and you will see the option to email all
Quick question does Polco have a QR code option for surveys?
Many municipalities used our Community Equity and Inclusion (CEI) survey to gather feedback from their residents. What steps are you planning to take after your initial CEI survey?
Can I determine the order that respondents will see polls in a poll set? For example, say that I created five polls (questions) in a poll set. Will respondents see them in a random order (different for every respondent) or can I set the order so respondents see the questions in a certain order?
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