The Long School Neighborhood, The: A Community Profile

Sense of community is a compelling construct that allows psychologists to examine fundamental questions about how individuals are connected to and influenced by their most important social settings. This investigation uses an existing database of 2,409 residents of 21 neighborhoods in a Northeastern city to examine sense of community at the neighborhood level. The investigation used a cross-levels program to examine whether sense of community can be detected at the neighborhood level. The investigation also tested the strength of the relationship of both neighborhood-level variables (i.e., physical attributes and presence of a grassroots neighborhood association) and individual-level variables (i.e., income and education) on neighborhood-level sense of community. Residents of the same neighborhood were more similar to one another than to residents of a different neighborhood on both the neighborhood-related variables and income and education. When variance attributable to the personal resources of income and education were removed, intraclass correlations for neighborhood-related attitudes (i.e., perceptions of neighborhood climate and perceptions of the ability of neighborhood residents to influence neighborhood conditions) remained significant at an alpha level of .05. However, neighborhood-related behavior (i.e., neighboring behavior and participation in a community organization) was no more similar to residents of the same neighborhood than to residents of a different neighborhood. Neither the presence of a grassroots neighborhood association nor the physical characteristics of neighborhoods examined in the investigation were significantly correlated with a sense of community. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

A neighborhood-representing community association (or neighborhood association [NA]) can offer community-based solutions to address problems and needs within a neighborhood. From this study, we expected to see the potential benefits that such an association could contribute to a neighborhood and its residents. A questionnaire survey was conducted in five neighborhoods in Greenville, North Carolina, in summer 2011. The study had two main research questions: “Do the NA’s tasks have an impact on resident’s overall neighborhood satisfaction?” Next, we asked, “Are there specific features that make a NA serve residents effectively and thus make people satisfied with their association?” We found significant contributions by NAs in communication and community activities that affected residents’ overall neighborhood satisfaction. We also found that an association’s contributions in maintaining active communications with residents were the most significant feature that residents appreciated.

This article discusses the findings from a study on neighborhood satisfaction conducted within the North Camden neighborhood context. Using data from the 2011 North Camden Resident Satisfaction Survey, the study examined the subjective measures of neighborhood-level characteristics to identify the determinants of neighborhood satisfaction. A binary logistic regression analysis revealed that the quality of social networks, neighborhood physical conditions, neighborhood safety, and quality of public services are positively associated with neighborhood satisfaction. Surprisingly, the analysis showed that the extent of social networks and access to transportation have an inverse relationship with the satisfaction of residents with their neighborhood. The article discusses these findings and the way in which the results can inform practitioners about policies and programs that need to be developed and implemented to improve neighborhood satisfaction and, ultimately, individual and community well-being.