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Reparations commission reports expanded community outreach and a streamlined survey for students
Summary
The Northampton Reparations Commission said it held four community events, adapted its public survey for high school use and enlisted college students to help run focus groups and distribute surveys at Northampton High School and Smith College.
The Northampton Reparations Commission said at its meeting that a recent series of community events and targeted outreach have generated new responses to a public survey and produced a student-tailored questionnaire to reach high-school and college-age residents.
Commission members described four community events held since Martin Luther King Jr. Day — at Edwards Church, the Unitarian Society, Saint John's Church and Forbes Library — intended to explain the committee's research and to collect feedback and ideas. Commissioner Marcia Morris said attendance at each event ranged "about 20, 25 people" and that notes and suggestions gathered will inform the commission's final report.
The commission said two UMass graduate students adapted the existing public survey to a shorter form for Northampton High School students and Black Student Union participants. Anthony Stevens, who helped distribute QR-code cards at events, described the high-school version as "briefer to make it more accessible" so it can be handed out in a classroom or completed online. Commission staff said college students will attend distribution sessions to assist and collect completed responses.
Commissioners noted changes to demographic items in the student version to allow greater specificity about Black, Afro-Latinx and African heritage (examples listed in draft: "African American/Black; Afro-Latino/Latina; African (e.g., Nigerian, Ghanaian, Kenyan); Black Caribbean (e.g., Haitian, Jamaican, Trinidadian); multiracial Black + other; other — specify"). The commission plans to share the draft student survey with members for feedback before wider use.
Commissioners also described outreach steps to local businesses, faith communities and Smith College. Commissioner William Newman said commission members have compiled a contact list and sent introductory letters to about 30 organizations; the group aims to expand to roughly 100 contacts to solicit interviews, focus groups and survey participation.
The meeting concluded with a request that the two college students who adapted the survey attend the next meeting so commissioners can meet them and review final edits.
Ending: Commissioners characterized the outreach as an early but active phase in the commission's research, emphasizing a mix of in-person events and targeted school outreach to add qualitative and quantitative input to the final report.
