Q: What is Focus on Flint?
A: Focus on Flint is a publication created by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation that brings together data about how Flint is doing as a community and perspectives from the city’s residents.
Q: How did residents contribute to Focus on Flint?
A: A polling firm conducted telephone and online surveys of a representative sample of Flint residents. A total of 900 residents from all parts of the city shared their views about quality of life, challenges facing the community, whom they trust and more.
Q: Why did the Mott Foundation create Focus on Flint?
A: Focus on Flint was created to give the bigger picture of Flint’s story — things to celebrate and things to improve. The publication was created to share what Flint residents are saying about life in the city and what’s important to them, to track any changes in residents’ thoughts and concerns over the coming years, and to use as a springboard for conversations that could help to keep Flint moving forward and shape the Mott Foundation’s local grantmaking.
Q: What is the purpose of the community conversations being planned throughout the city of Flint?
A: The Mott Foundation wants to get to know the community on a deeper level. We want to work with you to better understand your priorities and concerns to help ensure that our local grantmaking addresses them.
Q: When will the community conversations be held? How can I take part?
A: In August, we’ll begin holding up to 20 small meetings at the neighborhood level. We’ll ask community leaders to invite 10 or 12 people to each of those conversations. There also will be larger conversations that anyone can register to attend. The first of those will be in September. Any member of the Flint community can register for that conversation or later conversations.
Q: What if I can’t make it to a community conversation?
A: You can always share your thoughts on this website. We invite you to tell us your priorities for the community and provide feedback on Focus on Flint.
Q: Will the Mott Foundation do anything with what they learn from the community conversations?
A: Yes, absolutely. We want to hear from residents, business owners, students and other members of our community about what’s important and what’s needed to strengthen our community and improve quality of life. The information we gather through the community conversations will help us shape our local grantmaking. We expect that we’ll learn more about how residents feel about our current grantmaking, and we may make some new grants that are driven by community input. We don’t yet know what that will look like, because we want to get input from the community about needs and priorities, and how you’d like to see the process work.
Q: Will Focus on Flint be printed every year?
A: It’s possible. We want to hear from the community to find out if Focus on Flint is interesting and useful to you. Next year, a research firm will again interview a representative sample of residents through phone and online interviews to see how feelings and opinions may have changed from this year to next, but how we share that information may change.
Q: What’s next for Focus on Flint?
A: Holding community conversations is our major focus. We’re starting with smaller meetings in neighborhoods, and then we’ll move on to larger community conversations. Sign up to be notified about community conversations.
After we meet with Flint residents and other community members, we plan to update all participants — and the community as a whole — regarding what we’ve learned from the community conversations. We’ll share that information on this website and through the Mott Foundation’s website and social media. You can follow Mott on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
