DataHaven Unveils First-Ever Wellbeing Survey for Connecticut

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Mark Abraham, DataHaven

DataHaven has commenced with its 2015 Community Wellbeing Survey, a comprehensive survey of quality of life issues that is being conducted in Connecticut, covering issues such as community vitality, health, family economic security, and individual happiness.

The broad and first-of-its-kind study of Connecticut health indicators will gather data from 15,000 phone interviews with Connecticut residents.

“The Community Wellbeing Survey is unique in that it represents the unification of many existing local surveys conducted throughout Connecticut over the past decade into a single, high-quality statewide program that produces information at statewide, regional, town and neighborhood levels,” Mark Abraham, DataHaven’s executive director, told Commercial Property Executive. “The goal is to produce local-level information about quality of life and health that is not available at a local level from any other source.”

The survey looks at issues across a variety of sectors—happiness, banking access, health, housing and others—so it has the potential to create collaboration across different groups and institutions.

“Doing this at a large statewide level enables the survey to be of a higher quality and impact than it could be otherwise,” Abraham added. “Very few if any surveys of this type are designed to interview over 15,000 residents across multiple cities, towns and rural areas.”

Supporters of the 2015 survey include dozens of the state’s leading hospitals, government agencies, universities, and charities statewide, including regional community foundations and United Ways located in Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, New Britain, Norwalk, Derby, and New London.

Once the findings are collected and tabulated this fall, DataHaven expects the results to be used extensively by the many government, healthcare, academic and community partners throughout the state.

“Having this type of information has never been possible previously, so we anticipate results will be used widely for a variety of purposes: describing communities’ high quality of life to attract businesses; understanding local healthcare needs; supporting grant requests that cities and towns submit for federal spending; classroom teaching; and many other purposes over the next several years,” Abraham concluded.