« PSCAC Focus Groups

The PSCAC has conducted 14 focus groups, so far. The PSCAC plans to conduct six more focus groups during February of this year and to report the results by May 1999. This report will include a list of recommendations and issues to be addressed by the City.

The focus groups include residents from neighborhood associations with a geographic representation of two-thirds of the city. They also include special groups such as the Apartment Managers and Owners, Senior Citizens, the religious communities, Gays and Lesbians, business associations, police officers, and the Takoma Park Police Commanders. The PSCAC has planned two more special focus groups for February for residents living in apartments and for City youth.

The following is a citation of opinions expressed in regard to two topics: inter-jurisdictional cooperation and youth programs.

Many of the citizens in the focus groups mirrored the committee's concern about interagency cooperation. Some called it the "Inter-jurisdictional muddle". Members of the focus groups stressed that the problem of the intersection of jurisdictional boundaries should be vigorously addressed. It was suggested that there should be pressure on Montgomery County to develop a task force to resolve this problem. The neighboring Prince George's county line was another concern since neighborhoods are not so sharply separated. The neighboring regions in PG County are high crime areas or "hot spots". Police coordination between Prince George's Police Department was of particular concern, perhaps similar in level to the concern in regard to the coordination between the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Force and Takoma Park Police. Criminals travel easily across all borders. An effort to reduce crime must focus on the region as a whole.

It was also stated that residents expect something positive to come out of the State of Maryland's efforts and push for inter-jurisdictional cooperation and crime prevention. Such an effort should result in a lasting improvement of inter-jurisdictional cooperation and communication.

Representative sampling of concerns expressed by all focus groups is shown in the following comments: Youth programs need to be expanded. The focus group members felt that the area youth is inadequately supported. The Recreation Department is responsible for youth programs. It organizes the programs, but these neighborhood programs do not reach enough of the youth. Perhaps the targeted youths are unwilling to participate, perhaps there is no central facility with easy access. In particular all programs to help older youth are ineffective. It is detrimental, if young adults do not have jobs.

Another focus group felt that youth programs are important to accomplish the goals of family empowerment. The proposed target population for intense and promising efforts are the elementary and junior high school. The focus group saw a particular chance in the after-school programs. These after-school time periods provide an ideal opportunity to institute remedial and advanced training programs. The city or the school system could provide the space and hire experienced and highly qualified teachers for this purpose. Items to be included in such education could involve "resume writing", how to conduct "job interviews", and "conflict resolution". These programs have to be community based and community supported. Countywide programs are too distant. Community programs can be tailored to the needs of the community and the resources of the community. It seems a worthwhile cause to assign funds for such supplementary education programs, much better than recreational programs that only serve to increase the social distance between the remedial kids and the advanced students.

Another focus group stated that a great number of strategies which have proven to be successful crime fighting strategies are social measures to take care of the needy in the community. Among the successful programs were nurses visiting high-risk infants, Head Start type programs with weekly visits by teachers to students' homes, anti-bullying programs at school, rehabilitation programs focused on offender risk factors such as illiteracy.

Another measure was presented as successful nation wide. It involves special police efforts with extra police patrols in high crime "hot spots." Such vigorous police efforts for hot spots were a request of several focus groups.

« Takoma 2010 Town Meetings

In early 1996, the Takoma Park City Council decided to solicit citizen input for the development of community goals. The Council established the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) in May 1996 to formulate the goals. The CAC completed a series of focus groups, called Takoma 2010 Town Meetings, on June 18, 1998.

The Takoma 2010 Town Meetings collected opinions from City residents, business owners and property owners. Participants talked about local neighborhood issues and discussed broader topics, such as population diversity. Ideas were shared on how to strengthen the sense of community that makes Takoma Park a unique place to live.

The CAC members also facilitated sessions where participants discussed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to Takoma Park. The participants then ranked these issues.

The findings of this multi-year project provided much of the input for the problem areas and recommendations of this document.