For Charlottesville to reach its potential as a truly world-class city, residents must be able to move about easily, safely and affordably. Much needs to be done to reach that (appropriately) high standard, yet we can’t do everything all at once. So where should advocates, planners and officials focus their efforts?
To help answer that question, The Piedmont Environmental Council, the Piedmont Family YMCA, the Curry School at the University of Virginia, and other members of the Move2Health Equity Coalition, with a grant from Sentara Martha Jefferson, have created a short survey that will take you about five minutes to complete. Your responses, along with others’, will be used to assess how easily Charlottesville residents can get to the places they need to go, as well as barriers to mobility.
How this survey is different
A lot of research already exists about local walking and biking patterns and needs, but past efforts have typically been either city- or region-wide (see for example PEC’s 2018 walk/bike survey) or they have been very focused on a specific infrastructure project, such as a new trail or intersection improvement.
This survey is different because it focuses specifically on neighborhoods and asking the fundamental questions: “How do you get around town, how would you like to get around town, and what would it take to make that possible for you?”
How the data will be used
Responses will be aggregated by neighborhood and cross-referenced with what we know about socioeconomic need and patterns of past injustice to identify a few geographic areas and topics for Move2Health Equity to focus its future mobility efforts.
Are you a Charlottesville resident? Take the survey by Labor Day, September 6: https://tinyurl.com/M2HE-survey
It is intended to guide a second round of more intensive and direct conversations with residents of the selected neighborhood(s) once the pandemic is behind us.
How we are getting the word out
In the meantime, we are working with neighborhood and community leaders, health and wellness partners, Charlottesville’s communications office to distribute flyers and posters around town, in busses and doctors’ offices to steer people to this bilingual, mobile-device-friendly survey. The data will also be shared with neighborhood leaders to help them guide their own efforts.
*The survey will run through Labor Day, September 6.
The Move2Health Equity Coalition is a local alliance of health-related agencies and organizations who work to improve Access to Healthcare, Active Communities, Healthy Food Systems, and Healthy Spaces. Its service area includes Albemarle, Fluvanna, Green, Louisa and Nelson Counties and the city of Charlottesville. Learn more at https://move2healthequity.org/