Led by Harvey Home Connect, a disaster response and preparedness nonprofit founded in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, a coalition of area nonprofits and foundations launched the community impact survey aimed at assisting residents in the gulf coast area.
“Houston is used to rallying around our neighbors during times of adversity,” said Elena White, executive director for Harvey Home Connect in the news release. “Through previous disasters, we’ve learned how critical it is to start identifying affected community members while the rains are still falling, so that we can advocate for necessary resources and, as they become available, we can direct people to those resources. This survey will help us do that.”
The survey, which started March 23, is designed to help philanthropic and nonprofit partners better understand and focus on the needs of vulnerable community members who are hit the hardest during any disaster, as well as populations who are specifically hard hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the elderly, families with children, service industry workers, and undocumented and mixed status families, according to the release.
The survey has seen over 8,000 respondents, as of April 29, White said, with a third of those indicating they would like to be contacted about assistance.
Survey questions touch on wages and employment, health, family and well-being, education and household composition.
Harvey Home Connect is able to break down survey responses by geographical area, even by neighborhood, thanks to a data partnership with Rice University, White said.
Partners for the survey include United Way of Greater Houston, Rice University, Greater Houston Community Foundation, Fort Bend Recovers, Vision Galveston, and Harris County Long-term Recovery Committee.
The survey can be found at www.gulfcoastcovidsurvey.org and takes about 15 minutes to complete.
