Mission District survey assesses needs of low-income families

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- People, who live in San Francisco's Mission District, may get an unexpected knock on the door from people conducting a survey.

The purpose is to assess the needs of low-income families with children in local public schools.

Monday at 9 a.m., several teams with orange vests and clipboards in hand were out conducting the survey.

"So, we've divided the neighborhood into zones so that we can go survey these areas, where there is a majority of families that go to our four Promise schools," said MEDA Director of Evaluation Carolina Guzman.

Those so-called Promise Schools are participating in a federal program where the goal is to guarantee that children in the Mission have the necessary tools to succeed in school.

For the next five weeks families will answer a long questionnaire with topics ranging from health care, to housing and the quality of their schools. The families are predominantly Hispanic.

"This is about how to figure out, how to improve schools and our services so that children, you know, go to school ready and graduate and go to college," said Guzman.

The survey is being done by MEDA, the Mission Economic Development Agency and funded by the United States Department of Education. The findings will help MEDA and its partners decide where help is needed and how to fund programs to support these children.

"The interview went really well, I think. She was very happy to share information," said MEDA staff member Teresa Morales.

But, today not every family was willing to be so forthcoming. Some were not at home or didn't feel comfortable participating.

"And, we had some other people say they would make appointments in the future for us to come back but they weren't available at the moment," said MEDA staff member Richard Abisla.

"They have a packet of information that they can leave, right away, so if you have any questions my phone number is in there so they can call me. But, yeah, we're asking people to, 'please hear us out a little bit and learn about the survey,'" said Guzman.

MEDA will conduct three surveys over the next five years to see how much progress is being made.