Collecting Client Information
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Social and Demographic Indicators and their Impact on Programming
Social and demographic indicators refer to data that explains various aspects of a community and can be collected by government agencies or research bodies. It helps in understanding the characteristics of the community for appropriate planning. As the new Director of programming for the City of Santa Clarita Parks and recreation, understanding the social and demographic indicators of the people will help our agency to develop recreational programs that correspond to the needs of the Santa Clarita people and the changing demographics. The three key indicators to guide our programming are, the area’s population, education levels, and ethnicity.
On population, the City of Santa Clarita has the third-largest population in Los Angeles County, with 176,971 residents, according to California’s department of finance. The City’s population increased by 17.5% between 2000 and 2010 and is projected to increase to 239,900 by the year 2035 (City). Among the residents, youth make up the largest proportion since 67% of the residents are below 44 years. Only 9% are above 65 years of age (City). However, the elderly over 60 years are projected to increase by 81% between 2010 to 2030 in the whole California (State). Therefore, our agency will focus on developing programs that mostly target the young population while at the same time preparing for the increase in older adults.
On education, the educated make up a significant chunk of the community, with 65% of adults at least 25 years of age having some college certificate or higher. Additionally, Santa Clarity City hosts four established colleges with over 60,000 student enrollment (City). They are the California Institute of the Arts, The Master’s College, College of the Canyons, and the California State University, Northridge. Such information will us evaluate whether we have enough programs and facilities to take care of such high numbers. The high education levels in the City indicate that demand for recreation and leisure programs will keep rising since many people can afford it. Besides, the existence of the colleges means high demand for leisure by students and our agency should increase the capacity of our facilities to cater to the market.
On ethnicity, 76.4% of Santa Clarita’s population is white, while 23.7% is made of other races such as blacks, Asians, American Indians, etc. (City). Due to such ethnic composition, our agency will develop inclusive programs that take care of all races without discrimination. Such information helps to evaluate the inclusiveness of our agency and take appropriate actions. All the above indicators will be useful in our programming.
The importance of collecting information
Collecting information about and from constituents is vital since it helps programmers to understand how to serve their clients best. It is a way of understanding their needs and preferences hence developing programs that meet these needs. The various types of data and information that can be obtained from constituents are demographic data, current activity involvement, skills, and needs information, attitudes, beliefs, and values as well as preferences, opinions, interests, and intentions.
Demographic data include age, sex, physical and cognitive abilities, occupation, family status, among others. Current activity involvement helps programmers to understand what programs the client is currently engaged in, how often, and at what cost. Information on skills helps programmers to know what programs to place the client in and which roles to assign. At the same time, data on preferences, values, and beliefs allows programmers to understand clients’ views on various programs.
The methods used to collect data and information recreation needs are using advisory boards, having town hall meetings, using comment cards, as well as focus groups and interviews. The primary method used by the City of Santa Clarita to gather information about recreation facility needs is analyzing existing information about the social and demographic factors of the people living within the City. The data is obtained from the City’s records as well as the State’s data about City’s demographics. A review of the needs assessment by the City reveals that information on the population demographics, education and skills, and ethnicity of its residents is crucial in proper programming in the next few years. Such information will help to know the proportion of the elderly, the young, literacy levels as well as the diversity of the City residents so as to develop appropriate programs for each category.
References
State of California Department of Aging. “Data and Statistics: Facts about California’s Elderly.” (2016). http://www.aging.ca.gov/Data_and_Statistics/Facts_About_Elderly/
City of Santa Clarita Demographics. “Age Distribution of Population.” City of Santa Clarita. (2016). http://www.santa-clarita.com/city hall/departments/community development/demographics/population