The Northern Michigan Community Health Innovation Region awarded Grow Benzie a special Community Voice Project focused grant in the summer of 2019. Josh Stoltz, Grow Benzie’s Executive Director, has been working within his network to develop a model for effectively and consistently collecting resident voice into the work of the NMCHIR and larger community.

Most recently, you may have seen or promoted Grow Benzie’s social media post inviting community residents to complete a brief survey via Facebook.

122 people completed the 7-question survey over holiday break.
Find out what we learned below.

Josh Stoltz, Executive Director of Grow Benzie

Josh said, “The major takeaway for me was the last question: nearly every person would continue to participate even if there wasn’t a gift for completing the survey. I love it. Also, they’re interested in engaging in various ways- both online and in person.

Resident voice is important to the work of the Northern Michigan CHIR. That’s because residents have first-hand experience living and dealing with the problems we’re trying to tackle, like finding affordable housing, getting a job, or staying healthy. They also have experience trying to get the supports and services they need from the service delivery system like housing assistance and childcare.

These experiences provide residents with an invaluable perspective about what needs to change within the community to help residents achieve health and well-being, and how the system can improve to better meet resident needs. These experiences can also equip residents to take on action and leadership roles within the community to support our efforts.

(Source: Change Agent Field Guide; Engage Residents, ABLe Change)