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UMD capstone team unveils resident survey to help North Brentwood reach harder-to-reach residents
Summary
University of Maryland information‑science students presented a community survey to the North Brentwood town council to identify resident priorities on engagement, safety and infrastructure; students plan QR-code distribution, bilingual forms, and an incentive strategy to reach seniors and other low-response groups.
A team of University of Maryland information‑science capstone students presented a townwide resident survey to the North Brentwood town council on April 20, outlining plans to collect feedback on community engagement, communication channels, public safety and local infrastructure.
The students — who identified themselves as Pablo Rodriguez, Jonathan Nguyen, David Benaboa, Azithi Onyechua and Rekha Asad — said the survey is already live and that they plan to distribute it using the town’s channels, QR codes posted at public locations, the town newsletter, social media and by promoting it at community events. They told the council they will produce English and Spanish versions of the survey and deliver findings as charts and a short report.
Mayor Robinson and council members raised concerns about reaching seniors who may not use QR codes. The students said they would use newsletters and town outreach days, and suggested in‑person help at events and simple step‑by‑step guides or videos to assist residents. Resident volunteers offered to help with door‑to‑door outreach and neighborhood canvassing to increase participation.
The capstone team said they expect to collect roughly 50 responses from town residents during the project window and that responses would be stored in a spreadsheet the town can retain for future reference. They also said the town could keep the survey open after the course ends and reuse the instrument for later outreach.
Council members and residents discussed incentives; the students proposed using small gift cards and a possible prize drawing to increase response rates. Mayor Robinson suggested tying survey distribution and training to two planned Maryland 250 educational sessions for residents and encouraged posting the QR code on the town website and at public venues.
Next steps included the assistant clerk coordinating with the students to finalize the English and Spanish surveys, add more targeted infrastructure questions, and publish the distribution plan. The students said they could finalize materials within about three weeks and will provide the spreadsheet of collected responses to town staff.
The presentation concluded with the council thanking the students and encouraging residents to scan the QR code and participate.
