Vision study says 32 percent of teens expect to stay or
return
Community Vision San Benito County hopes a new study sheds light
on interests of local teenagers.
The organization has released the findings of its 2011 Youth
Matters Survey, in which more than 500 middle school and high
school students responded to questions about the community.
Vision study says 32 percent of teens expect to stay or return
Community Vision San Benito County hopes a new study sheds light on interests of local teenagers.
The organization has released the findings of its 2011 Youth Matters Survey, in which more than 500 middle school and high school students responded to questions about the community.
Julie Morris, the executive director of Community Vision, said the goal of the survey was to get some input from a segment of the population that is often overlooked in the vision process. In fact, one of the questions on the survey was “Have adults in San Benito County ever asked you what would make this a better place to live for teens?”
Almost three-quarters of the 548 respondents said no.
The 23-question survey was posted online at the end of November, based on questions developed by the Community Vision board with help from a Gavilan College statistics professor. Community Vision San Benito County is a nonprofit project of Community Foundation for San Benito County. Morris recruited the help of local schools in sharing the survey link with students, including San Benito High School and several middle schools.
Morris said next year they will work to get a more diversified group to take the survey – though it was available in Spanish, only one respondent took it in that language. She said they would also be more aware of timing and set up the survey for a time that does not coincide with winter break or finals week, as it did this year from some local schools.
“The timing wasn’t the best,” Morris said, adding that one of the high schools was on winter break during the survey period.
One of the key questions posed to the students was what would make them feel as though they have a voice in the community.
Nearly half of the students said they would feel as though they had a voice if there were a youth center. Thirty-eight percent said they would like to have a “youth fund” for programs aimed at their age group.
Of the students surveyed, 18 percent said they would feel they had a voice if there were a youth-produced show on the Community Media Access Partnership station and 25 percent responded other with responses from being pictured in the newspaper to wanting jobs for their age group.
“They want more places for kids to hang out,” Morris said. “It reassures that those would be dollars well spent.”
That sentiment was also backed up by the way students ranked which of four items would make San Benito a better place – more entertainment and recreation options; more local shopping and restaurants; more local opportunities for youth; or additional opportunities to be involved with community events and projects.
Of the participants, 38 percent said the number one way to make the community a better place is with more entertainment and recreation options.
“There is so much here as far as proximity, but we need to get things closer to us, such as shopping and restaurants,” Morris said. “It is about keeping dollars local and watching the community thrive. It will make the county a place where kids want to stay.”
While two-thirds of the students surveyed said they plan to attend college, only 17 percent said that they would be likely to stay or return to San Benito if there were quality career or business opportunities.
In a follow-up question, the participants were asked if they picture living in San Benito after high school or college and starting a family in the community. Of those who answered, 32 percent said yes.
For those who said yes, they were asked the reason why. Sixty-three percent said it is a good place to raise a family; 45 percent said family ties; 23 percent said quality schools and health care; 22 percent said cost of living is more affordable; 13 percent said job or business opportunities; and 12 percent said good access to recreational activities.
The youths who took the survey ranged in age from 13 to 18, with 43 percent of the students in seventh or eighth grade while the rest were spread across the high school years. The students who participated came from more than a dozen schools.
Morris said the plan is to conduct the survey again in coming years and to use the results from the first year as sort of a baseline.
“The (grade with the) most were eighth-graders,” Morris said. “We are happy about that because we can monitor their responses in future years.”
“A lot of kids like living here,” she said, based on their responses. “It was a pleasant surprise.”
More than half of the students surveyed said San Benito is a good or excellent place to live, with 43 percent selecting the good rating. About 37 percent said it was a fair place to live and 11 percent said it was a poor place to live.
“The next step is to involve teenagers in the visioning process,” Morris said. “We will do a series of town hall meetings and we are hoping youth will be represented.”
She also mentioned the idea of a youth advisory committee that could work with Community Foundation for San Benito County.
“It’s definitely something they see as one part of the community that is traditionally underrepresented,” she said.
The conclusion Morris drew from the findings is that students like San Benito County, but they may feel they can’t stay.
“We need to make it a place they want to be,” Morris said. “They don’t want to leave, but if there are not careers or businesses they will.”
For the full results of the survey, including all the answers submitted for the “other” responses, visit http://tinyurl.com/6egwxme.
