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Awareness of Programs Could be Improved – Some in the focus groups mentioned the need for enhanced communications and awareness of programs; it is seen by some as a relative area of weakness of FVRMD. With so many programs, it is difficult to summarize and share information on what is being offered, a challenge that was acknowledged. Ideas for easier navigation of the website were expressed.
Invitation and Web Surveys
The survey and the overall Needs Assessment effort was grounded, in part, on a similar study conducted by FVRMD in 1999/2000. That study had resulted in the identification of a major opportunity, to create an indoor recreation facility that would serve area residents, and the facility was subsequently constructed and is successfully operating today. Using a combination of mail and web-based distribution, a total of 2,000 paper surveys were mailed to a random sampling of residents and second homeowners within FVRMD. The survey invitation offered alternative methods for completing the survey: either an online version or a paper survey with a postage paid return envelope. The random survey was augmented with an email invitation that was sent to names on e-mail lists maintained by FVRMD. Together, the two survey methods resulted in 735 responses, including 288 from the invitation sample and 447 from the email list. The margin of error for the statistically-valid invitation sample is roughly +/- 5.8 percentage points calculated for questions at 50 percent response. Full-time residents of the Fraser Valley Recreation District were represented by 369 respondents, and 226 identified themselves as part-time residents. FVMRD Survey Respondent Profile The following details the demographic profile of survey respondents. Several of the demographic categories are segmented by residency status (local residents vs. part-time residents) to highlight key demographic differences between these two groups. • Gender representation in the survey was roughly equal – 52 percent of respondents overall were male, and 48 percent were female. • Respondent age generally skewed older, with 53 percent of respondents age 55 or older and an average age of 54.3 years. However, respondents reported a broad range of ages, with 10 percent under age 35, 13 percent age 35–44, and 23 percent age 45–54. • A majority of respondents are full-time residents of Grand County (63%), while 32 percent identify themselves as second homeowners, and 5 percent are seasonal residents. • Over half of respondents overall (53%) reported that their household earns less than $100,000 annually. The average annual household income is $130,193, likely attributable to the fact that a fairly high share of respondents earn over $200,000 a year (17%). Over two-thirds of local respondents (68%) reported earnings of less than $100,000 annually, while 79 percent of parttime respondents earn $100,000 or more per year. • The largest share of respondents are empty nesters (36%), followed by singles and couples with children (24%), couples without children (24%), and singles without children (15%). A strong majority of respondents reported being in a couple, either with or without children (79%). • Most respondents have lived in the Fraser Valley area for a relatively long period of time, with 62 percent reporting that they have lived in the area for over 10 years and an average length of 16.6 years.
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Fraser Valley Metropolitan Recreation District