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County youth survey: lack of out‑of‑school activities, mental health and cost top concerns, county says
Summary
A county-run random pulse survey of 402 respondents found the leading concerns for young people in Gloucester County were a lack of extracurricular opportunities, mental health and substance abuse. County and school officials discussed marketing, capacity and potential infrastructure investments to expand programs.
Deputy County Administrator Steve Wright briefed the Gloucester County School Board on results from a collaborative youth-programming survey administered March 5–May 6 with 402 respondents.
Wright described the instrument as a randomized, rake-weighted 'pulse' survey intended to identify programming needs across demographic groups. "This was administered between March 5 and May 6," he told the board, noting the survey deliberately matched 2020 census distributions to improve representativeness.
Respondents ranked "lack of opportunities or activities outside of school" as the county’s top concern for youth; mental health and substance abuse followed. Wright also said a notable barrier to participation is awareness: many residents said they do not know what programs exist. Cost is another major constraint — respondents making less than $50,000 cited expense as the primary barrier and Wright said 73% of that group reported available programs as too expensive.
Wright outlined existing collaborations that aim to address those gaps, including work with parks & recreation, libraries, the Gloucester Education Foundation and the school division. He highlighted county-supported efforts such as ARPA-funded field enhancements and full-service school programming to address youth mental health. He also said administration plans to expand marketing (including Nextdoor via a Zen City contract) and explore investments in athletic infrastructure to keep more activity and revenue in-county.
Board members asked about outreach to lower-income households and offline channels; Wright said the county uses newspapers and radio and can filter data by magisterial district or demographic groups for targeted outreach.
Next steps: county staff will continue to analyze raw survey data and coordinate with GCPS and community partners to shape programming and outreach strategies.
Direct quotes and paraphrases are taken from the Dec. 10 school-board presentation.
