Have you experienced racism or discrimination? The city of Olympia wants to know
Olympia’s Social Justice and Equity Commission has a big goal: eliminating racism and discrimination, and ensuring human rights are protected throughout the city. In its first step toward that goal, the city and consultant Truclusion have launched a public survey to find out if, where and how discrimination is happening.
The survey launched June 15 and will be available online until July 16 at surveyolympia.com. It’s available in five languages: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean and Tagalog.
Ashley Gardner, with Truclusion, said the survey ranges from 17 to just over 30 yes/no questions, depending on how they’re answered, and it takes 3 to 8 minutes to complete. For example, a question may ask if you’ve experienced discrimination in a certain setting, and if you answer yes, there will be more multiple choice questions after.
At the end of the survey, Gardner said respondents will be asked if they want to participate in a follow-up interview over email, phone or Zoom. That’s when people will have the chance to share their personal experiences of racism and discrimination in Olympia.
Dane Wolfrom, Truclusion’s senior manager, said his team is looking to survey 10% of adults in Olympia, or roughly 4,250 people. Of those, they’d like to conduct at least a couple hundred follow-up interviews.
Gardner said the follow-up interviews not only give Truclusion an idea of what people are experiencing in Olympia, but it also makes the data from the online survey more reliable and valid. And there are incentives for participating in both: Truclusion is offering more than $2,000 in prizes. One random survey respondent will win $1,000, and smaller gift cards will be given out to others. The first 200 people to do a 15- to 20-minute interview will get a $25 gift card.
Gardner said Truclusion doesn’t give out any private or identifying information on survey respondents to the city. She said the team boils down the information it will collect over the next month into a data-driven report that will be sent to the Social Justice and Equity Commission in the fall for discussion.
Wolfrom said Truclusion doesn’t just need responses from people who have experienced discrimination.
“We need not only people who have experienced discrimination, but we need people who haven’t experienced it, too,” he said. “We need everyone in Olympia to take the survey so we can pinpoint who is and who isn’t, and where they are and where they aren’t.”
Wolfrom said the Truclusion team will be doing a lot of boots-on-the-ground work over the next month to get people to take the survey. He said they plan to be at every in-person event until July 16, and Truclusion has taken out some online radio ads. There are fliers posted around the city with QR codes that lead to the survey, and the City of Olympia will be frequently posting it on its social media.
Tobi Hill-Meyer, the city’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs manager, said there are 26 different organizations the city is partnering with to reach community members. There are 11 race-based or anti-racism organizations, three LGBTQ+ organizations, five organizations that address homelessness or poverty, two government agencies, and five organizations that focus on disability, seniors, or veterans.
The survey website includes a list of resources for those interested in learning more about their rights when dealing with discrimination, as well as for support.
This story was originally published June 24, 2023 at 1:51 PM.
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