The National Citizen Survey™

National Citizen Survey

In 2001 NRC partnered with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) to create The National Citizen Survey™ (The NCS™), a uniform survey tool used by widely diverse local jurisdictions across the U.S. to assess resident satisfaction with community amenities and government service provision.

The NCS™ embodies our extensive experiences by offering a customizable turn-key survey. We work as partners with ICMA to offer this survey to cities, counties, towns and villages across the U.S. In the seven years since its inception, we have administered the survey over 200 times in 41 states.

The NCS was developed to provide a statistically valid survey of resident opinions about community and services provided by local government. The survey results may be used by staff, elected officials and other stakeholders for community planning and resource allocation, program improvement, policy making and tracking changes in residents’ opinions about government performance.

The National Citizen Survey™ Methods and Goals

Survey Objectives	Assessment Methods
Identify community strengths and weaknesses Identify service strengths and weaknesses	Multi-contact mailed survey Representative sample of 1,200 residents and households 5% margin of error Data statisticaly weighted to reflect population
Assessment Goals
Immediate Provide useful information for: Planning Resource allocation Performance measurement Program and policy	Long-term Improve services More civic engagement Better community quality Stronger public trust

* Many customizable options available

The NCS focuses on eight categories of community characteristics and local government services, shown in the diagram below. Resident behaviors related to civic engagement in the community also are measured in the survey.

The National Citizen Survey™ Focus Areas

Community Quality

Quality of life
Quality of neighborhood
Place to live

Environmental Sustainability

Cleanliness
Air quality
Preservation of natural areas

Community Inclusiveness

Sense of community
Racial and cultural acceptance
Senior, youth and low-income services

Commnity Design

Transportation

Ease of travel, transit services, street maintenance

Housing

Housing options, cost, affordability

Land Use and Zoning

New development, growth, code enforcement

Economic Sustainability

Employment, shopping and retail, community as a place to work

Recreation and Wellness

Parks and Recreation

Recreation opportunities, use of parks and facilities, programs and classes

Culture, Arts and Education

Cultural and educational opportunities, libraries, schools

Health and Wellness

Availability of food, health services, social services

Civic Engagement

Civic Activity

Volunteerism
civic attentiveness, voting behavior

Social Engagement

Neighborliness, social and religious events

Information and Awareness

Public information, publications, Web site

Public Safety

Safety in neighborhood and downtown
Crime victimization
Police, fire, EMS services
Emergency preparedness

Public Trust

Cooperation in community
Value of services
Direction of community
Citizen involvement
Employees

The NCS™ Basic Service offered by ICMA and NRC includes:

A 5-page survey, based on our templatized tool, mailed to 1,200 randomly selected households
Ability to add custom questions
A report of results, including benchmark comparisons from NRC’s database of over 500 jurisdictions
Key driver analysis to determine resident priorities
Entry to win top honors for Voice of the People Awards™
Access to Best Practices reported by winners of The Voice of The People Awards™

Additional information on The NCS™ can be found at ICMA's Web site or by contacting Heather Locke, The NCS™ Director.

ICMA Voice of the People Awards for Excellence and Transformation

NRC inaugurated the annual The Voice of the People Awards which are announced each year by ICMA and NRC for the jurisdictions with the highest rated services (the Award for Excellence) and the services showing greatest improvement (The Transformation Award) according to a representative sample of opinion from their own residents. The annual winners are identified among all the jurisdictions that conducted The National Citizen Survey™ in the prior calendar year. The awards are intended to recognize excellence and enhance the utility of citizen survey results.

To win the Award for Excellence, the rating for service quality must be one of the top three among all eligible jurisdictions in the survey year and must reside in the top 10% among over 500 jurisdictions in the NRC database of citizen surveys, used to provide normative comparisons in citizen survey reports.

To win the Transformation Award, the improvement in quality rating for a particular local government service must be significantly higher than the rating from the most recent prior survey conducted in that jurisdiction and larger than improvement in that service shown in any other eligible jurisdiction.

If you are an NCS client and would like to have access to exclusive information, please send an email to ncs@n-r-c.com to obtain a password. If you already have a password, the exclusive information can be found here.