Newport News to run National Community Survey in April–May using 4,000-household probability sample

Marlon McDaniel of the Office of Innovation and Brandon Barnett of Polco told Newport News City Council that the city will run the National Community Survey (NCS) in April and May to provide data for the next strategic plan.

The survey will be a probability‑based, mail and web study using a randomly selected sample of “4,000 randomly selected households,” Barnett said. The standard NCS instrument will be paired with a Spanish translation and 1.5 pages of custom questions the city added. Barnett said the city will also run an open, community‑wide digital participation option during the final weeks of collection to invite broader input.

Why it matters: Council and staff said they plan to use the NCS results to inform the city’s strategic plan and future budget discussions, to benchmark Newport News against peer communities, and to incorporate resident perception measures into departmental KPIs.

Barnett described the methodology and quality controls Polco/National Research Center uses: mailed postcards and follow‑up packets with a six‑page questionnaire and postage‑paid return envelope, an online response option, deduplication of responses, and post‑collection weighting to Census and American Community Survey estimates for age, race, Hispanic origin, housing type and tenure. "The 4,000 randomly selected households are first sent a postcard inviting the household to participate in the survey," he said, and the household respondent is randomized by the “birthday method” inside the household.

Barnett said Polco will geocode the address listings against city boundary files, remove addresses outside city limits, and over‑sample multifamily/renter households to improve representativeness of typically under‑represented populations. He said Polco will deliver final reports in Tableau and PDF and provide national and custom benchmark comparisons.

Marlon McDaniel said the Office of Innovation and the communications team will run an omnichannel outreach plan—digital, traditional and “boots on the ground”—to increase participation and reach harder‑to‑reach groups. McDaniel said staff will provide a media kit to council before distribution and that the city will consider using the survey results for benchmarking and future budget cycles.

Council members asked about council review of the final questionnaire and sampling details. McDaniel said council will see the survey instrument before distribution. Barnett explained the geocoding, randomization and weighting steps, and described over‑sampling of multifamily addresses to increase renter representation.

The vendors and staff did not present a voteable item for council action at this meeting; the presentation was informational. The city manager and staff said they will publish a final methodology table and the report to the city website when the survey closes.

Ending: Staff said the survey is slated to begin in April and conclude in May, with final reporting and benchmarking to follow. McDaniel said a media kit and outreach timeline will be shared with council ahead of distribution.