Community Mapping

This state-wide youth community mapping project was completed by the 2002-2003 YES (Youth Engaged in Service) Ambassador, Rhiannon Avery, MHS. The goal of the project was to gather as many resources as possible in rural areas of Idaho to add to the existing 211 Idaho Careline Database.

The following document contains information on:

• What is Community Mapping
• How to begin a Community Mapping Project
• Resources on Community Mapping
• An example of a Community Mapping Project

This manual is designed to help communities, organizations, youth, and other community members understand:

• What community mapping is and what it can be used for
• How to start a community mapping project
• What are resources that are available on community mapping
• What are some tools to get a community mapping project started
• What is an example of a community mapping project

This manual is to fulfill the requirements of the Youth Engaged in Service (YES) Ambassador program through the Points of Light Foundation. The YES Ambassador works with communities and youth to provide technical assistance and training in youth service, service-learning and youth leadership. The YES Ambassador, the Points of Light Foundation, Serve Idaho and the Governor's Coordinating Council for Families and Children seek to enhance the national and community service field by developing young leaders & community problem solvers, and building the capacity of organizations to create service and leadership opportunities for youth.

YES Ambassadors:

• Provide training to youth and adults on a variety of topics, including youth leadership, adult-youth partnerships, service-learning, service project development, reflection, agency readiness and diversity.
• Consult with individuals, organizations and institutions on the development of national and community service programs for youth.
• Connect with individuals, organizations and institutions to local, state and national networks and resources in the national and community service field.

What is Community Mapping?

During the 1890's, one of the first examples of community mapping was identified. Jane Addams, a settlement house dweller, did a sociological survey of the neighborhood and published the Hull House Maps and Papers.

Over time, the process continued to develop. During the 1930's, the process included the utilization of young people in the process. According to Raise Your Voice, the idea of using youth in community mapping was through the support of a "community-minded principal name Leonard Covello at Benjamin Franklin Community High School in East Harlem. As part of the curriculum, students at Benjamin Franklin Community High School surveyed their neighborhood to find out what was there and then created giant maps to put in the school which gave information such as how many community organizations, public playgrounds, and churches existed and where they were located, but also identified things like liquor stores and bars."(2003, pg.1).

With the recent awareness around assets (protective factors that an individual possesses), another type of community mapping has been coined, "asset-mapping". Asset-mapping attempts to identify the positive attributes that a community possess (such as: YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, Library, Safe Houses, Community Centers, etc.) rather than the problems of a community (crimes, drugs, and abandoned housing projects). (McKnight and Kretzmann, 1993).

PolicyLink, (a national nonprofit research, communications, capacity building, and advocacy organization) defines community mapping as, "A vibrant way of telling a neighborhood's story. It can highlight the rich array of neighborhood assets, analyze the relationship between income and the location of services, or document vacant lots and buildings". (2003, pg. 1).

The Center for Youth Development and Policy Research defines Community YouthMapping as, "young people canvassing their neighborhoods in search of places to go and things to do. Young people called mappers canvass their neighborhoods, using a survey tool, to gather baseline information on the resources available for young people, children and families in their communities. The center defines resources as places to go, opportunities and things to do." (Page 1).

What can Community Mapping be used for?

Community Mapping can be used to identify a multitude of things within a community. Community Mapping can include:

• The positive or protective factors in a community (YMCA's, community organizations, safe hoses, etc.)
• Identifying individual resources (people, skills, or talents of a person) within a community
• Identifying group resources (group of seamstresses who meet once a week to sew, PTA's, Girl Scout troops, Boy Scout troops, etc.)
• Identifying institutional resources (schools, libraries, churches, etc.)
  
• McKnight and Kretzmann (1993) suggest using mapping to identify potential partners for youth; partners for senior citizens; partners for the disabled; partners for welfare recipients and partners for local artists;
• Identifying resources for local or statewide databases

The lists can go on and on about what community mapping can be used for. If there is something that you want to know about your community, Map It!

Once community mapping is complete, one can use the information to:

• Identify the gaps in resources within a community
• The potential partners for groups or individuals within a community
• Identify resources that one never knew existed
• Resources to refer out to members within a community
• To form partnerships to make social or economical change within a community

The possibilities are endless about the information that you will find once you begin mapping, and what you can use the information for within the community.

How to start a Community Mapping Project

The information contained in this section is from the Academy for Education Development, Center for Youth Development and Policy Research (2003). The Center for Youth Development and Policy Research was established at he Academy for Educational Development in 1990 in response to a compelling need to define and promote national and community strategies for positive youth development. The chief goal of the Center is to work in partnership with individuals, organizations, government, and community leadership to create and advance a vision of youth development that specifies both strategies and outcomes. For more information, contact Raul Ratcliffe at 202-884-8295 or visit their website at http://cyd.aed.org/cym/tensteps.html

Community Youth Mapping® - A Ten-step Process

Step 1: Identify Convening Organization

The first step in beginning the Community YouthMapping® process is to identify an organization within the community that will convene a group of public and private community representatives to determine the level of interest in having young people map a community. This convening organization will host the Center's staff. The Center will make a presentation about Community YouthMapping® and answer questions about the process and level of involvement.

Step 2: Formation of a Public/Private/Nonprofit Community Advisory Board

The first task of the lead agency is to create a governing body in the form of a Community Advisory Board. The Community Advisory Board's role is to help support, promote, plan and implement community mapping activities. This advisory board should be composed of a mix of public, private and nonprofit leaders. The Advisory Board should not be larger than 15 members.

Step 3: Designation of a Lead Agency

The convening organization may or may not be the lead agency. One outcome of the presentation meeting is to identify who will be the lead agency. The lead agency should be a youth-related agency or another appropriate organization that will manage the development and implementation of the mapping activity. This lead agency is responsible for most of the next steps.

Step 4: Definition of What "Community" Means

After fundraising, this is one of the most important duties of the advisory board. The definition of community will vary from location to location. In some locations, community means a specific neighborhood or neighborhoods; in others, community means everything within city or county limits. What is important is not how the mapping team defines community but rather that the team is very clear on what community means to them before they begin the mapping activity.

Step 5: Recruitment of the Mapping Team

The lead agency is responsible for working with the board to recruit the Mapping Team. The Mapping Team consists of individuals who will have direct working responsibility for designing and implementing the mapping activity. At least 75% of the Mapping Team should be young people. These young people will not only help design and plan the mapping protocol; they are also the only individuals who will do the field work.

It is important to consider providing stipends for the Mapping Team. The Center will work with the lead agency and the Advisory Board to develop a Community YouthMapping® budget.

Step 6: Development of the Mapping Protocol

Now the Mapping Team must develop a mapping protocol that is tailored to its particular definition of community. As part of the Center's technical assistance and support, we provide sample questionnaires, process timetables, and data plans. The Center works closely with each community to customize and adapt each document to meet the specific needs of the Mapping Team.

Step 7: Training of Mapping Team

Once the protocol is developed, the most important step for the Mapping Team is their training. This is the phase where each team member is trained on how to identify a resource, conduct an interview using a professional approach, document a resource as well as using risk management while mapping. This training will be conducted by the Center. The duration of this training is determined by the size and availability of the Mapping Team. The details of the training will be developed between the Center, the lead agency, and the Advisory Board.

Step 8: Mapping - The Field Work

After the training, the youth members of the Mapping Team will take the protocol into the community as it has been defined by the Advisory Board, to gather the necessary information. Sometimes, mapping field work is completed in a relatively short period of time. The duration of the field work is dependent on the community and the Advisory Board.

Step 9: Analysis of Mapping Results

Following completion of the field work, the resources that were identified must be collected in usable formats and analyzed. Analysis of the mapping information permits the Mapping Team to determine:

• The exact nature of the resources that are available to young people in their community;
• Where, how, when and for whom resources are available;
• Which types of resources appear to be missing, inadequately available, inaccessible or poorly provided; and
• Which parts of the community are resource-poor.

Step 10: Reporting and Using the Findings

A thorough analysis of mapping results will lead to a report which summarizes what the team found and presents their analysis and recommendations. Mapping Teams can report and use the findings of their field work in a variety of formats.

**Note: Community organizations can use the Center for Youth Development and Policy Research to help with their community mapping project. However, these guidelines are very helpful for mapping efforts, even if you are not financially in a position to contract with the Center.

Resources

There are some great tools and resources for community members and individuals who are interested in doing a community mapping project. These resources include:

• Building Communities from the Inside Out - A path toward finding and mobilizing a community's assets. By John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight (1993). http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/abcd.html
• From the Ground Up! A Workbook on Coalition Building and Community Development. By Gillian Kaye and Tom Wolff, Ph.D.
• Academy for Educational Development/ Center for Youth Development and Policy Research. http://cyd.aed.org/ydmobilization.html or Raul Ratcliffe at 202-884-8295.
• Action for Change- Raise Your Voice Community Mapping Resource Guide http://www.actionforchange.org/mapping/
• Community YouthMapping® (CYM) http://www.communityyouthmapping.org
• Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development - 2001 http://www.theinnovationcenter.org
• Comprehensive Community Assessment of Youth Development Opportunities.
  By Daniel F. Perkins, PhD and Kenneth Jones, M.S. The Pennsylvania State University.
• Marion County Commission on Youth, Inc. http://www.mccoyouth.org/
  Contact: John Brandon, mccoy@indy.net or 317-921-1298

This list is not exhaustive of all the resources that are available, but includes those that were used in the development of this manual.

What is an example of a Community Mapping Project?
and
What are some tools to get me started?

Background:

Idaho's YES Ambassador was partnered with Serve Idaho (The Governor's Commission on Service and Volunteerism) and the Governor's Coordinating Council for Families and Children. While meeting with the First Lady, Patricia Kempthorne, she communicated that she would like to know all youth resources in the State of Idaho. While this seemed like a huge task for one person, the YES Ambassador started meeting with groups in the state of Idaho that could be of help. While meeting with groups and organizations, the YES Ambassador met with Idaho Careline and 211. These two groups were about to launch the "211 Idaho Careline" information and referral number. (The three of us, found that there was a natural partnership for the work that the YES Ambassador was to complete and they were needing more contacts for their database.)

Contacts:

The YES Ambassador then contacted John Brandon of the Marion County Commission on Youth (MCCOY). MCCOY has done youth community mapping projects in the past. Mr. Brandon, then sent a packet of information on tools that they had used when working on their youth mapping project. These tools, then served as the guide for the YES Ambassador for the development of tools for the state-wide youth community mapping effort.

Information that already exists

Before the tools were sent out, the YES Ambassador needed to identify what was already "out there" in the database of the Idaho Careline. She requested the information be sent to her on resources that existed within the database that youth could use. The YES Ambassador also requested a copy of the North Idaho Community ON-line (NICON) directory. The NICON directory is a compilation of community resources located in Northern Idaho.
When reviewing these two databases, common resource themes emerged: Health resources, Crisis resources, Youth Serving Organization resources, and Food, Clothing, and Shelter resources.

Creating a Map of what exists

Once these themes emerged, the YES Ambassador bought a map of Idaho. Sewing pins of four different colors were purchased (to represent each of the different resources). The YES Ambassador went through each of the resources that youth could use and created a map of where resources were in the State of Idaho.
What became apparent was that rural communities, did not have the resources that those with larger population bases did. The project finally had a target population.
This youth community mapping project was targeted at communities that had one or fewer resources identified on the original map of Idaho.

Tools

Letters (see Appendix A) were sent to schools, youth serving organizations and churches in 89 communities. After the initial letter was sent, a Press Release (Appendix B) was sent to newspapers in those communities. Follow-up letters were then sent to other faith-based organizations and schools from those communities.
Once communities replied to the initial letter, packets of information were sent out that included all of the tools in Appendix C.
Every three to four weeks, youth would receive an email asking if there was any additional support or help that they needed.

Where to go from here

Community mapping projects are very different in terms of what they are trying to identify within their community. However, we could all use something that will get us started. The resources listed in the previous section can also provide youth with some ideas for how to design your tools for your community mapping project.
I wanted to include some tools that were used in my community mapping project that may also help you to develop your own.

Appendix A

February 10, 2003

Greetings!

On behalf of the Governor's Coordinating Council for Families and Children, we are embarking on activities that will make Idaho the "best place for children and families to be". We hope to enlist some of your students in this effort.

This year, through the work of Idaho's Youth Engaged in Service (YES) Ambassador (from the Points of Light Foundation), we are working hard to identify youth resources in communities throughout Idaho. To do so, we want to turn to the real experts: the youth themselves.

We need about 10 youth from each community to help identify appropriate resources in their community, to use these resources as a way of evaluating them, and when appropriate, to decide which to refer to their peers. In the end, these youth-identified resources will be included in the 2-1-1 Idaho Careline Database. 2-1-1 Idaho Careline is a resources referral network available to all individuals in Idaho.

Right now, we are asking you to pass this information on to youth in your classes, who might be willing to help us. Should any of them express interest, please have them contact Rhiannon Avery, YES Ambassador at ravery@corr.state.id.us or 208-658-2072 (within Idaho 800-588-3334). Our deadline for completion is May 2003, so this will be short-term work and will wrap up by the end of the school year. Youth who participate will receive a "thank-you" card signed by the First Lady of Idaho, Mrs. Patricia Kempthorne.

We thank you for your help in passing this information along to the youth in your school! We look forward to working with them.

Sincerely,

Community Youth-Mapping

What is Community Youth-Mapping?

Community Youth-Mapping is a way to mobilize youth and adults in the community around finding the resources and opportunities that exist in a community. Young people in many cities have identified a host of resources that may not be found in traditional directories. Community Youth-Mapping is a great way to identify gaps in available resources.

What is 2-1-1 Careline?

2-1-1 is the national abbreviated dialing code for free access to health and human services information and referral (I&R). 2-1-1 is an easy-to-remember and universally recognizable number that makes a critical connection between individuals and families in need and the appropriate community-based organizations and government agencies. Idaho is one of 20 states that implemented 2-1-1 services during 2002.

As of February 2003, www.211Idaho.com is available statewide.

What is the Importance of this Project in Idaho?

To date, there have been no statewide youth mapping projects in Idaho. This will provide an opportunity for youth to be part of a statewide effort that will increase the 2-1-1 Idaho Careline Database for all those living in Idaho, especially the youth. This project is a great way for youth to identify resources in their community that they may not have previously known about.

What are the resources that we are trying to identify?

The resources that we are aiming to identify in each community are resources related to:

• Health Services
• Crisis Services
• Food/Clothing/Shelter Availability
• Youth Serving Organizations.
• The resources identified to these areas should be free, sliding scale, or low-cost.

Who do I contact if I have interested youth?

If you have interested youth, please have them contact Rhiannon Avery, Idaho's YES Ambassador at ravery@corr.state.id.us or 208-658-2072.

Appendix B

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Governor's Coordinating Council for Families and Children, is embarking on activities that will make Idaho the "best place for children and families to be". We hope to enlist some of the youth in your area for this effort.

This year, through the work of Idaho's Youth Engaged in Service (YES) Ambassador (from the Points of Light Foundation), we are working hard to identify youth resources in communities throughout Idaho. To do so, we want to turn to the real experts: the youth themselves.

We need about 10 youth from your community to help identify appropriate resources in the community, evaluate the youth-friendliness of the resources, and when needed, recommend these resources to their peers. In the end, these youth-identified resources will be included in the 2-1-1 Idaho Careline Database. 2-1-1 Idaho Careline is a resource referral network available to all individuals in Idaho.

Right now, we are asking you to pass this information on to youth in your home, community organizations, schools or churches that might be willing to help us. Should any of them express interest, please have them contact Rhiannon Avery, YES Ambassador at ravery@corr.state.id.us or 208-658-2072 (within Idaho 800-588-3334). Our deadline for completion is May 2003, so this will be short-term work and will wrap up by the end of the school year. Youth who participate will receive a "thank-you" card signed by the First Lady of Idaho, Mrs. Patricia Kempthorne.

We thank you for your help in passing this information along to the youth in your group! We look forward to working with them.

WHO IS THE YES AMBASSADOR?

Rhiannon Avery is one of ten Youth Engaged in Service (YES) Ambassadors in the United States. She is a full time employee of the Points of Light Foundation out of Washington DC, working in Idaho with Serve Idaho and the Governor's Coordinating Council for Families and Children. In addition to the community mapping project, Ms. Avery also provides a youth leadership training to youth between the ages of 14-19 and helps to promote youth volunteerism throughout the state. Ms. Avery will serve as the contact for the youth community-mapping project.

Appendix C

April 4, 2003

Cheryl Lockard
Benewah County Extension Office
701 College
St. Maries, Idaho 83861

Dear Cheryl:

Thank you for your willingness to participate in my statewide youth community-mapping project. I am very excited about this project!

I am asking that read through the materials in the packet provided for you. Should you have any questions about it, please do not hesitate to call me at 1-800-588-3334 or contact me via email at ravery@corr.state.id.us

I am needing resources identified: 1) crisis resources that youth could use if needed. (Places to start might be a women's abuse shelter, counselors, or school) 2) food, clothing, and shelter resources that youth could use if needed. (Places to start might be a homeless shelter, churches, soup-kitchens, or a thrift store). 3). health resources that youth could use if needed. Places to start might be a medical center, health department, doctor's office, or hospital and 4) youth organization resources that youth could participate in. Places to start might be church groups, soccer teams, youth action councils, etc. Any or all of these that can be identified would be great!

Please fill out the forms completely and return them to me when you are done.

Thank you again!
Have a great day!

Rhiannon Avery
YES Ambassador