We are seeking residents and property owners who can talk to us about their neighborhood and how the NID program is working. This includes both active NIDs, inactive NIDs, and NIDs in formation:
The Brewery (#1)
2Parks (#2)
Washington Park (#3)
Sherman Park (#4)
Heritage Heights (#5)
Garden Homes (#6)
Harambee (#7)
Walker's Point (#8)
Havenwoods (#9)
Riverview (#10)
River Ridge (#11)
Lindsay Heights (#12)
Riverest (not formed)
Any NID in formation
The study seeks to understand how NIDs work from the perspective of residents and property owners. Topics we will cover include:
If you reside in the neighborhood: Why do you live there? What do you love it about it? What would you like to see change?
If you own property in the neighborhood but do not reside there: How did you come to own property in the neighborhood? What has your experience been as a property owner there? What are your thoughts about the neighborhood?
Your involvement with the NID and the reasons why you chose to get involved (or not).
Your opinions about the NID in/near your neighborhood and the NID program more broadly. What impact has the NID had on you and your neighborhood? What has worked well in your neighborhood's NID? What has been a challenge? What do you envision for its future? What would you recommend to residents of other neighborhoods?
También hablo español y podemos hacer la entrevista en español. Si es el caso, indícalo en el formulario cuando te apuntas.
Eligible participants will receive a $20 compensation for their time. To be eligible for compensation, participants must meet the following requirements:
Be a resident of a Neighborhood Improvement District
Not be a full-time, paid employee of an organization that manages one of the NIDs
Not be an employee of the City of Milwaukee whose job duties include supporting and/or managing NIDs
Why are you studying NIDs in Milwaukee? I study neighborhood identity, neighborhood change, neighborhood inequality, and neighborhood organizing. NIDs are potentially related to all of these things! Do NIDs strengthen or alter neighborhood identity? How are decisions about NIDs made and by whom? How are NIDs related to neighborhood change? Are NIDs a tool to reduce inequality between neighborhoods? Milwaukee is a pioneer and innovator in the use of Neighborhood/Business Improvement Districts as a tool for neighborhood development. Because of this, it's a great place to study these questions.
How will you use the information you collect from interviews? I make an audio-only recording of our interview and I create a written transcript of our conversation from the recording. As I do more interviews and create more transcripts, I read and re-read all of these transcripts to look for themes and patterns in what people say about NIDs. I am interested in these general themes and patterns. While I may use quotes from our interview in my report to illustrate a theme or pattern, I will never disclose your identity or any information about you that could reveal who you are.
Will anyone else hear the interview recording or read the transcript? Absolutely not. I am the only person who will hear the interview recording or read the transcript. Keeping your information confidential is extremely important to me. All recordings and documentation with your name are kept on a password-protected cloud-server that only I have access to. The University of Wisconsin-Madison requires me to create a plan to protect your information and stick with it.
What if I decide during or after the interview that I don't want to participate in your study any more? That's fine! If you change your mind during or after the interview, just let me know and I will delete the files and no longer include them in my study. It is important to me that you be in control of your information.
How can I sign up to participate? You may sign up at here or contact me at sefarr@umich.edu.