Civic Journalism: Six Case Studies
TALLAHASSEE, FLA.
"The Public Agenda"

Living Room Conversations

The Harwood Group kicked off the research with a round of "living room conversations" in June 1994. Harwood, using the Prizm method, interviewed a small but highly representative segment of the population by breaking the community into demographically similar clusters. Professional moderators from Harwood conducted 10 separate two-hour sessions in Tallahassee living rooms with a total of 29 participants in groups ranging in size from two to five. The number may seem small but the clusters represented 91.4 percent of the households in surrounding Leon County.

Paired with quantitative research, the living room conversations offered a detailed glimpse of the issues that most concerned Tallahasseans, their attitudes, and the most fruitful way to engage them in future dialogues. Harwood reported that many people were intrigued by the idea that the Tallahassee Democrat and WCTV6 "would actually be interested in what they think."

Bolstered by the Harwood Group's findings, the researchers and the partners were able to frame a detailed quantitative survey. More than 800 residents participated in the October 1994 random-digit dialing survey conducted by Kerr & Downs. Kerr & Downs also sent the same survey to more than 350 community leaders in Tallahassee and Leon County to compare what residents said with what the leaders thought they would say. More than 50 percent of the leaders responded. The phone survey showed:

• More than 70 percent thought the lack of citizen involvement was at the heart of Tallahassee's problems and more than 70 percent said Tallahasseans were talking about themselves and their neighbors, not the community as a whole when they use the word community.

• Crime was the leading issue confronting Tallahassee, followed by growth, education, economy and race relations.

• Loss of family values registered high on the list of concerns.

SURVEY

In the spring of 1995, Kerr & Downs surveyed about 330 Tallahasseans, who gave "The Public Agenda" an overall grade of B-.

Positive results included:

• Over one-third of local residents are aware of "The Public Agenda," a good level of awareness after such a short period of time. By comparison, fewer than three- fifths of Leon County citizens are aware of the Florida Audubon Society, which has been in existence for decades.

• The existence of "The Public Agenda" initiative accompanied an 11 percent positive change in residents' perceptions of Tallahassee as a city that pulls together vs. residents' description in an earlier survey of Tallahassee as a city at odds with itself.

• Residents see "The Public Agenda" as a mechanism for reducing racial tensions.

• Nearly two-thirds of the respondents said they wished either to get or stay involved with "The Public Agenda."

• Five out of six agreed with the premise of "The Public Agenda:" That the community benefits when citizens discuss community problems.

• That "The Public Agenda" has not created solutions to community problems.

• There has been no positive change in attitudes about citizen involvement and citizenship issues.

• A decrease in citizenship activity was reported, (although the first survey was conducted during an active period (October) in Tallahassee, while the second was conducted during a slow period (June).

• Nearly half of the respondents saw Tallahassee as a community at odds with itself.

• More than half said they would become involved in solving community problems if someone would tell them how.

In short, the survey found a community ripe for a project like "The Public Agenda."