Nebraska

Nebraska Community Foundation Greater Nebraska Youth Survey

Problem

Communities get surveyed to death but rarely see results. Leaders don't know what residents actually need. Feedback loops stay broken, trust erodes.

Solution

Nebraska Community Foundation and the University of Nebraska at Omaha's Center for Public Affairs Research co-created the Greater Nebraska Youth Survey in January 2020 and fielded it annually through rural school districts: over 1,000 students in 2020, 715 in five communities in 2022, 980 in 11 communities in 2023. On September 30, 2024 NCF released five-year cumulative results from 4,063 middle and high school students in 43 schools: 59% somewhat or extremely likely to live in their area as adults, 76% connected to their community, 55% naming an ideal community 'small like my hometown', 73% seeing no stigma in staying, and only 34% agreeing they play a role in their community. NCF's network is described as 270 communities and 1,500 volunteers.

Patterns used: Listening Infrastructure

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