2022 Quality of Life Survey

OVERALL RATING

Nine hundred residents shared their views through telephone and online opinion surveys conducted in the first half of 2019. Key findings are summarized, including ratings for different aspects of life in Flint. Ratings are based on a scale of one to five, in which five means “very positive” and one means “very negative.” For more information about how the ratings were calculated, see Methodology.

THINGS TO CELEBRATE/
THINGS TO IMPROVE

This section highlights survey results regarding what’s working and what needs improvement. If a section of Focus on Flint does not include information about Things to Celebrate or Things to Improve, it’s because the survey didn’t yield responses to fit the categories.

ALSO HEARD

In addition to results of the opinion survey, Focus on Flint shares information that local nonprofit organizations and agencies have reported hearing from the residents they serve.

SUPPORT FROM MOTT

Support for the organizations and programs presented in bold text includes funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, which produced this report. To learn more, visit the Foundation’s website, Mott.org.

FACTS & FIGURES

Each section includes data and statistics that illuminate strengths of the Flint community and highlight challenges. These facts were collected through opinion surveys of Flint residents; from city, state and federal agencies; and from local nonprofit organizations. The Flint surveys were conducted in the first half of 2019. Unless otherwise noted, all remaining data are from 2018.

DID YOU KNOW?

This section highlights organizations and programs working to address issues in the Flint community and provides information about how to connect with them.

THE ISSUE AND THE RESPONSE

Focus on Flint explores nine important issues facing the local community: Arts and Culture, Economy, Education, Health, Housing, Public Safety, Quality of Life, Standard of Living and Water. This section describes why each issue is critical to the community and summarizes work underway.

 

A key goal of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation’s Focus on Flint initiative is to track year-to-year findings of what Flint residents are saying about life in the city and what’s important to them. This is the fourth Quality of Life Survey that has been conducted.

With new survey data gathered in 2022 from a representative sample of more than 800 respondents, this update highlights residents’ perspectives on nine key issues that were first explored in our initial report to the community in 2019. In all nine areas, ratings were either slightly higher or remained the same as in 2021. We found this particularly noteworthy given that residents have had to constantly adapt in a variety of ways over the last two years due to the pandemic.

In addition to gathering feedback on the nine key issue areas, we wanted to take a closer look at other important community issues. So this update also features residents’ thoughts and concerns regarding education in Flint.

We hope these survey results and future Focus on Flint reports will serve as a springboard for ongoing community conversations that could help to keep Flint moving forward and inform the Foundation’s local grantmaking.

2022 SURVEY RESULTS: KEY ISSUES AND OVERALL RATINGS

As in previous years, the Focus on Flint 2022 survey asked residents to rate nine key issues that affect their quality of life in Flint. On a scale from one to five, with one meaning “very negative” and five meaning “very positive,” below are the average ratings recorded through the 2022 survey. Arrows indicate if a rating increased or decreased from the prior year’s survey, while an equals sign indicates that the rating was unchanged.

Residents’ evaluation of Flint on the issue of: 2022 2021 2020 2019  
 
The city’s water supply 2.1 2.1 1.9 1.8
Arts and culture 3.8 3.7 3.7 3.6
The economy 2.5 2.4 2.4 2.4
Education 2.6 2.4 2.4 2.6
Housing 2.2 2.2 2.3 2.2
Public safety 2.4 2.3 2.4 2.3
Supporting residents’ health 2.9 2.8 2.9 2.8
Supporting a good standard of living 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.5
Supporting a good quality of life 2.7 2.5 2.6 2.5

In addition, residents were asked, “What do you think is the most serious issue facing the residents of Flint that you would like to see community leaders do something about?” Among those who responded in 2022, crime continues to top the list of key concerns, followed by blight and water quality.

Below are the top three concerns from the 2022 survey:

  • Crime/safety issues: 33%
  • Clean water supply: 16%
  • Blight/abandoned buildings: 14%

2022 SURVEY RESULTS: EDUCATION

This year’s survey further explored residents’ perceptions about education in Flint, asking questions about our greatest strengths and avenues for improvement.

When asked, “What are the most significant strengths of Flint’s public schools?” the top response (17%) was dedicated, committed teachers and staff, followed by youth and afterschool programs (10%).

And the most commonly mentioned challenge facing Flint’s public schools was a lack of funding (18%) for education.

Residents were asked to rate ideas to improve the quality of education in Flint.

These five ideas received the highest ratings from residents:

  • Increase parent involvement.
  • Improve school buildings.
  • Increase access to healthy foods for students.
  • Increase mental health support for students.
  • Increase free afterschool programs.

Out of the 804 residents surveyed, 260 were parents or guardians of children in grades K-12.

Of those 260 residents:

  • 35% said their children attend a public school in Flint.
  • 25% said their children attend a public school in another city in Genesee County.
  • 22% said their children attend a public charter school in Flint.
  • 10% said their children attend a public charter school outside of Flint.

METHODOLOGY

A total of 804 residents contributed to this update by sharing their views about various aspects of life in Flint. Their responses were collected through telephone and online interviews conducted between Aug. 6 and Sept. 4 of 2022 by FM3 Research, a nationally respected opinion research firm. Respondents answered many survey questions with a number from one to five to help capture intensity of feeling, with one meaning “very negative” and five meaning “very positive.”

ABOUT THIS UPDATE

The Mott Foundation led editorial efforts for this update. We were joined and supported by FM3 Research and Behr Communications, who conducted the community opinion surveys and analyzed the results.

What’s Missing? Let Us Know!