The board and staff of Western Carolina Community Action want to hear from the residents of Polk County how and where their resources and advocacy should be directed over the next three years.
To give everyone fair access and opportunity to be heard, a survey has been posted at www.wcca.net/polksurvey. No name or address is required and the survey is confidential. All residents and those who work in Polk, over the age of 18, are encouraged to participate.
If anyone prefers taking the survey on paper, paper copies and drop boxes are available at the Saluda and Polk County libraries along with help to do it online as well as on the Bookmobile. Drop boxes and paper copies are also located at the DSS/WCCA office located at 330 Carolina Drive in Tryon, the Womack Bldg. lobby in Columbus, the Thermal Belt Outreach, The Ultimate Basement in Sunny View, and the WCCA Childrens Center in the Valley Plaza. The survey will be available until July 15, and the results will be used to inform the WCCAs strategic planning for Polk County and posted on WCCAs website for public access.
The survey was developed by a team of 14 community leaders and has been designed to be short and to provide insight into the conditions faced by households during this serious recession. There are several comment boxes to allow for individualized answers or concerns not addressed in the survey. Some questions are brand new and some will allow us to compare to some of the findings of the Vision 20/20 plan, State of the County Health Report of 2009, and 2008 County Health Assessment.
Western Carolina Community Action has been offering Self Sufficiency and Individual Development (savings) Account program services in Polk since 2008, implementing a $200,000 home repair grant to improve energy efficiency in 2009, and opened the Childrens Center in Columbus for infant and toddler day care in March of 2010. Future projects will depend upon what is revealed through the survey.
If you have a group interested in completing the survey, contact Pat Malinak at pmalinak@wcca.net for details.