Civic and Community Engagement Research Series
Center for Public Scholarship and Social Change
October 2013
Southwest Neighborhood Improvement Program Phase One Report
Conducted for Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership
Mary H. Glazier, Director and Professor of Sociology
Jessica Yorks
Amanda Guzman
Ricardo Brens Matos
Huntingdon House
8 S. George Street
P.O. Box 1002
Millersville, PA 17551-0302
717-872-3049
http://www.millersville.edu/ccerp/research.php
LHOP – Southwest Neighborhood Improvement Program – Phase One Report
Background
In late spring 2013, the Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership (LHOP)
entered into an agreement with the Millersville University Sociology/Anthropology
Department (MU) to assist LHOP in familiarizing residents in the vicinity of 23 West
Strawberry Street with the Southwest Neighborhood Improvement Program, identifying
residents of the West Strawberry Street area and learning what the residents of this
area think would improve the area. A team, consisting of a professor of sociology, a
2012 graduate of Millersville University and two bilingual (English-Spanish)
undergraduates, undertook this project. They developed a brief statement describing
the goals of the LHOP Southern Neighborhood Improvement Program, a map of West
Strawberry Street area, and a form on which to record residents’ contact information:
name, address, phone number, email address. The form also provided a place to
indicate whether or not residents were willing to provide information to LHOP and
space on which to note housing problems residents were experiencing and the types of
social services they would like to learn more about. Both English and Spanish versions
of the form were developed.
Data Collection
The West Strawberry Street area consists of the following blocks: 00-100 blocks
of West Strawberry Street, 00 block of South Mulberry Street, even addresses only, 300
block of West King Street, even addresses only and the 300 block of West Mifflin Street.
The city of Lancaster provided a spreadsheet containing the addresses of properties on
those blocks, the names and addresses of the owners of the properties and, in some
instances, the names and addresses of property management firms managing the
properties. The document also distinguished between owner-occupied and rental
properties. The number of rental units in the multi-unit properties was also noted on
the spreadsheet.
During June, July and early August, members of the MU team made numerous
visits at different times of day and on different days of the week to the West Strawberry
Street area. Using the document provided by the city, team members went to each
address and attempted to speak to an adult residing at that address. Every address was
visited at least five times.
LHOP – Southwest Neighborhood Improvement Program – Phase One Report
At least one Spanish-speaking member of the team was present at every visit to
every residence. Team members asked each person contacted to confirm that he/she
was an adult living in the residence, briefly explained the LHOP Southwest
Neighborhood Improvement Program and asked if the person was willing to provide
information to LHOP. If they declined to participate, they were thanked and that was
noted on the form. If they agreed, they were asked to answer the questions on the
form and then given a reusable market bag, pens and writing tablet as a token of LHOP’s
appreciation.
The majority of persons contacted were cooperative. In four instances,
residents spoke a language other than English or Spanish and could not communicate
with the team members. In one instance, a non-resident provided translation of the
questions into Nepalese and offered her services in the event of further contact with
this and other residents of Nepalese background.
During the course of visiting each address, some corrections were made to the
original list provided by the city. There were several addresses missing from the 300
block of West King Street and a lack of clarity about whether some properties were
residential or commercial. There were several multiple unit properties where the front
hall is locked making access to the apartments difficult.
Information Obtained
The information obtained from the visits to the area and the conversations with
the residents was added to the spreadsheet provided by Lancaster City.
 There are approximately 68 addresses in the West Strawberry Street area,
most of which are residential. Fourteen of these addresses are multiple unit
residences. The 68 addresses include five addresses that were not on the
original document and were added to the list. They are:
• 336 W. King Street (commercial space and apartments)
• 342 W. King Street (two units)
• 344 W. King Street
• 346 W. King Street
• 305 W. Mifflin Street (Rear of 22-24 South Mulberry Street)
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LHOP – Southwest Neighborhood Improvement Program – Phase One Report
 Several addresses are not residential properties, were vacant or had units that
are inaccessible:
• 38 S. Mulberry Street (garage)
• 312 W. King Street (first floor Laundromat with inaccessible apartments
above)
• 326 W. King Street Unit 3 (vacant apartment)
• 309 W. Mifflin Street (vacant house)
• 319 W. Mifflin Street (vacant commercial space)
• 2 W. Strawberry Street (Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church. Also
location for ICAN - Mental health consumers' group, mailing address is
407 Lafayette St.)
• 23 W. Strawberry Street (LHOP owns and is vacant)
• 40 W. Strawberry Street (house is for sale and appears vacant)
• 100 W. Strawberry Street (grocery store with owner's apartment above;
unable to contact owner/occupant)
• 101 W. Strawberry Street (vacant lot)
• 122 W. Strawberry Street (vacant restaurant)
• 128 W. Strawberry Street (vacant restaurant)
• 136 W. Strawberry Street (outside triangle)
 Four residents declined to be involved in communication with LHOP. Their
addresses are:
• 36 S. Mulberry Street (owner, Jesse Dahm, is not interested)
• 42 W. Strawberry Street (owner, Woodward C. Welch, is 94 years old
and, according to caregiver, is not interested)
• 330 W. King Street (owner, Nelson Mejias, is moving and not interested)
• 114 W. Strawberry Street Unit 2 (no name given)
 The team collected contact information from 37 persons who live in rental units
and 10 persons who live in their own homes in the area. These people also
responded to two additional questions.
“There may be things about your residence that LHOP can help you with. Check as
many as you would like to receive more information on.” Residents responded they
would like information on how to:
Improve
the
Exterior
of my
Residence
- 13
Improve
the
Kitchen
– 13
Improve
Paint the
the
Outside –
Bathroom 11
– 11
3
Paint
the
Inside—
13
Get Financial
Assistance to
Make Repairs/
Improvements
– 13
LHOP – Southwest Neighborhood Improvement Program – Phase One Report
Twenty-eight residents chose “other” and requested information regarding the
following:
Other things about fixing their residences they would like information on
Assistance in dealing with people throwing their trash outside her door (wants a trash
can outside), talking to someone about trash men who throw their plastic garbage bins
on the sidewalk and break them, power washing the sidewalks, cockroaches in her
house, wants insulation put in her attic
Backyard (2)
Ceiling/Tile Ceilings
Computer problems, cabinets falling off
Doorknob needs to be fixed, windows in apartment broken, needs assistance putting in
panels, hallway needs painted
Electricity (1 room redone due to ceiling), more cabinets in kitchen, finish ceiling, front
windows (2nd/3rd floor) energy saver
Electricity, whole house needs to be redone
Fix holes in exterior of home
Floor needs painted and fixed, door needs to be fixed, lights in front and back need to
befixed
Garbage on the side
Get roof fixed. Get windows that open
How to get a parking permit
Leak in dining room
Leaking through inside windows, porch is leaking, windows leaking into bathroom, fix
the roof
Looking to buy a house
Oil-different heating source
Redo front porch
Residence has no gutter, basement has no windows, wants fencing, wants trash can on
side
Roof leak
Rug needs to be fixed
Spouts/gutter system out back of home needs replaced (bricks need replaced as well)-water is coming in the house and there is a lot of water damage in the bedroom, roof
needs fixed, screen door to kitchen needs rescreened and repainted, grab bars in
bathroom need to be fixed
Third floor electric/plumbing, tiles and cabinets in kitchen need to be fixed
Trash outside
Water leaking to her apartment from second floor apartment, "a lot of stuff" needs to
be fixed
Whole house, floors/tiles, windows are old-not storm-proof
Windows need to be fixed/replaced (2)
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LHOP – Southwest Neighborhood Improvement Program – Phase One Report
“Some people like to receive information on how to handle situations that come up in
many of our lives. Please check as many as you would like to receive information on. It
does not have to be a problem in your family.” Residents responded as follows:
Budgeting
money 3
Getting
financial
assistance to
buy a house 13
Raising
children
–1
Getting a
job – 6
Getting a
better job
–9
Dealing
with
teens –
1
Stopping
family
violence –
2
Learning about
my rights and
responsibilities
as a tenant – 1
Getting
medical
and
dental
care – 3
Alcohol
and
other
drug
problems
–0
Getting
more
education
–4
Getting
help
with
mental
health
issues –
4
Coping
with
aging
family
members
–0
Child
care – 7
Seven people chose other and requested information on handling situations in their
lives as follows:
Other things about handling situations in their lives they would like information on
Assistance to study sign language
Dealing with others drinking alcohol outside of residence
Dealing with people leaving trash outside
Information about homeschooling support groups
Information about Section 8--has been on waiting list for three years
Language barrier finding a job, wants to take classes to learn English and sign language,
needs help with learning how to read mail
Wants to take classes to learn English, used to have a job as a medical assistant and
wants help finding a job like that
Next Steps
The next step will be to administer an anonymous survey to residents of the
West Strawberry Street area to determine what kinds of conditions they view as
problems in their neighborhood, the extent to which they interact with their neighbors,
what kinds of changes they would like to see in their neighborhood and what kinds of
information regarding social services they would like to see communicated to people in
their neighborhood.
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LHOP – Southwest Neighborhood Improvement Program – Phase One Report
The protocol for administering the surveys is as follows. First, Millersville
University will mail a letter to each household informing the resident that a surveyor
from the university will be contacting them within the next month to obtain important
information. The letter will emphasize that their participation is voluntary, that the
information provided will be confidential and that the respondent will be able to
provide information anonymously. Recipients will be provided with a form to request
not to be contacted regarding the survey. The addresses of residents who ask not to be
contacted will be noted as “do not contact”.
Surveyors will visit all of the remaining addresses and request to speak to an
adult living in the household. They will explain the purpose of the survey to the resident
and review the informed consent form. Those residents who agree to participate and
sign the informed consent form will either be read the questions on the survey and their
answers recorded or they will be given a copy of the survey to complete on their own
and return in a SASE. No identifying information will appear on the survey itself. At
least one bilingual (Spanish/English) surveyor will be employed to assure that residents
who primarily speak Spanish can participate. There are a number of people of Nepalese
background residing in the area. A translator will be used to communicate with people
who speak only Nepalese.
The information collected via this survey will be summarized and presented to
LHOP in a subsequent report. It will provide baseline data to be compared with
information from a second survey to be administered in the same area in the third year
of the project (2016).
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