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Empowering people to build community

Williamstown has embarked on a research project to better understand safety and wellbeing in Williamstown, and we need your help! This research explores how the town addresses public safety needs now, how residents feel about their own safety, and how we can create a greater sense of well-being and belonging.

How can you get involved?

If you would like to be interviewed as part of this project, please click here to register. If the form doesn’t work for you, please call the Williamstown Cares volunteers at 413-458-3500 extension 117.

Latest updates

  • 2/11/2022: Preliminary analysis has begun of the first 130 interviews. Meanwhile, our volunteer social workers continue to plug away at the more than 200 confidential, in-depth interviews! There's still time to sign up to have your voice heard!
  • 10/04/2021: Community interviews ongoing • Police interviews underway • Transcript evaluation and preparing research software for coding
  • 9/08/2021: Community interviews underway •180 participants registered • 113 assigned to date • Positive feedback from those interviewed • Interviews taking 1-1.5 hours (occasionally longer) • Police intros underway
  • 8/9/2021: Members of the research team presented a project overview and update at the Select Board meeting. https://www.willinet.org/municipal-meetings/select-board/
  • 8/3/2021: Members of the research team will participate in National Night Out from 4-8 pm.
  • 7/30/2021: Interviews are underway and more community members continue to register.
  • 7/17/2021: Researchers have been practicing an array of audio recording techniques for capturing interviews by phone, in-person, and on Zoom.
  • 6/17/2021: We are pleased to report a significant public response to our initial outreach efforts. Please note that the volume of responses means that it may be a week or two before we can reach out to schedule your interview. We appreciate your patience as we take the time to call each registrant.
  • 6/09/2021: Research Director Jennifer James and several members of the Social Work Advisory Committee participated in the annual Town Meeting, sharing literature and discussing the recently launched community assessment.
  • 6/07/2021: Research Director Jennifer James, Outreach Specialist Christina Daignault, and members of Social Work Advisory Committee appeared at the DIRE Committee meeting and had a fruitful discussion with members of the community about the project’s methodology, aims, and answered questions from the community. Watch the meeting here: DIRE-Diversity, Inclusion, Racial Equity Committee virtual Mtg - 6.7.21 on Vimeo
  • 6/02/2021: Researchers appeared at the RJPR meeting to provide an update on the project and participate in a Q&A.

WHAT'S HAPPENING?​

The Town of Williamstown is conducting a community-based participatory research project to learn more about public safety in our town. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an approach that starts with and includes the community. Community members start and participate in every step of the process because there is something they want to learn or change about their own community.

For the past year, community members in Williamstown have been speaking up – on social media, in Select Board and other town meetings, and in conversations with their neighbors – about how safe (or unsafe) and welcome (or unwelcome) they feel in our town. These conversations echo those happening across our country as people consider what public safety means and how (and for whom) our society ensures it. At the same time, these conversations are unique to Williamstown, because they are about how people feel right here at home.

In collaboration with a group of social workers who call Williamstown home, the Town of Williamstown decided to learn more by hiring a Research Director for Community Assessment and Engagement who, along with an outreach specialist and advisory group, launched an assessment of safety and wellbeing in our town.

What will this project look like?

This community-based participatory research project has multiple components, including:

  • Interviews with community members (by phone, Zoom, or in-person) about their perceptions of safety and wellbeing in Williamstown, experiences with the Williamstown Police Department (WPD), and thoughts about how our community can best provide for safety and wellbeing in the future;
  • Interviews with members of the WPD about their jobs, their role in the community, and their thoughts about how our community can best provide for safety and wellbeing in the future;
  • Assessment of current workload and practices in the WPD to make sure we all understand the day-to-day work of our police department and the kinds of issues they are called on to handle;
  • And review of how other communities are thinking about safety and wellbeing.

Who will be involved?

We want to hear from as many community members as possible, and especially from those who feel unsafe, unwelcome, or excluded in our town. If we want to live in a community where everyone feels safe, welcome, and included, we need to know what is preventing that from being true right now.

We also need to hear from people who do feel safe, welcome, and included, so we can understand both what is working and what is not. In other words, if you want to be involved, you are welcome!

How can you get involved?

If you would like to be interviewed as part of this project, please click here to register. 

Address:

31 North Street

Williamstown, MA 01267

Contact Us

Phone: (413) 458-3500

Hours: M-F 8:30-4:30

RECORDS ACCESS OFFICER:

Nicole Beverly, Town Clerk

nbeverly@williamstownma.gov