Activity to Explore Community Demographics(15 minutes)

Purpose of activity:

Use this exercise to help your coalition make a list of the diverse people and groups in your community.

This list is helpful for recruitment and communications purposes, to help your efforts be inclusive.

Materials needed:

Flip chart

Markers

Part 1: Brainstorm activity

Brainstorming is a creative way for a group to come up with lots of ideas in a short amount of time.

As a large group, brainstorm responses to these questions:

Who makes up our community?

What kinds of people live, work and go to school here?

Make sure to think about ALL the different kinds of people who make up your community. Think about race and culture, economic background, religious or spiritual background, political background, profession, age, gender, etc.

Capture each response on a flip chart.

Part 2: Research the demographics of your community

Have some volunteers do research about who makes up the community. Bring the information back to the group at the next meeting. Or, you can prepare the information ahead of time to continue the conversation immediately after the brainstorm.

Brainstorming guidelines

All ideas are OK.

Don’t stop to discuss or judge the merit of the ideas.

Build on one another’s ideas.

Anyone can offer an idea.

You don’t need to wait for your turn.

The facilitator will write down every idea.

Compare the list you brainstormed with the information the volunteers researched. As a group, discuss these questions:

Are there any groups that we missed in our brainstorm? Why?

Is there any information you find surprising?

As you continue your work, keep these observations in mind so you can be sure to reach out to all groups in your community.

Resources for finding community information

The town hall or clerk’s office in your community might have data on what kinds of people are in the community.

Look up your community using one of these online resources:

American FactFinder  is a Census Bureau tool that offers statistics on different areas of the country. You can view the available Census data (including the American Community or other available survey’s) for your town. This data may be older. There is “Guided Search” feature that allows you to look in depth at available data.

DiversityData  lets you customize reports with the specific information you’re looking for. You can print or email them and convert them to a PDF document. The information is only available for large metropolitan areas.

ZipSkinny  offers a simple layout of Census Bureau results with a quick search of a zip code. You can view the results in chart form or compare zip codes.   

County Business & Demographic Map  is interactive and lets you explore different types of statistics throughout the U.S. Choose the statistics you’re interested in such as race, ethnicity, population, housing status, etc., search any county, city, etc., and compare it with another location.