Assessing Community Responsiveness in a Metropolitan Area

Abstract

An important dimension of a community is the degree to which its agencies, broadly defined, are responsive to citizen needs While the term "responsiveness" is a multifaceted concept, at its most basic level, an individual initially has to gain entry into an organization before a particular reguest for services or information can be addressed. One rather simple way of assessing an organization's preliminary responsiveness to crtizen requests is to monitor the time elapsed for establishing telephone contact. This system was utilized with three sets of data bases, within a major metropolitan area, consisting of critical social service agenc ies as defined in a phone book, diverse transportation systems, and agencies listed by a Department of Social Services pamphlet. Concurrent validity data were subsequently collected by interviewing a random sample of individuals to assess their perceptions of agency responsiveness. Direct behavioral manifestations of agency responsiveness, as well as citizen perceptions, represent two useful ways of investigating how permeable a community's agencies are to citrzen needs he ability to access resources and information that are needed to facilitate problem solving, coping, and effective functioning is at least partly dependent on the quality, availability, and responsiveness of diverse community agencies, organizations, and social support systems. Within any community, prospective networks of systems affecting individuals include social welfare agencies, educational facilities, religious institutions, transportation systems, criminal justice organizations, and the media (Jason and Glenwick, 1980). Attempting AUTHORS' NOTE. Requests for reprints should be sent to