LGBTQ Quality of Life Study and Survey

We’re written several times about the LGBTQ Quality of Life Study and the ongoing survey that will serve to provide the Austin-specific data on which the Study will be based.  Here are some of the basics:

  • The study is sponsored and paid for by the City of Austin, as were similar past efforts for the African American, Hispanic and Asian American communities in Austin.  The information will be used by the City to inform future policy decisions impacting our community.
  • The survey is available online now at https://shoutoutaustin.org  and is scheduled to close at the end of April.
  • It is anonymous and the information is confidential.
  • It will take an estimated 30 minutes to complete.  Why so long? We are trying to collect for the first time information on Austin’s LGBTQ population – all ages, gender identifications and sexual orientations.  It takes a lot of questions to cover an audience that big.
  • The survey is open to anyone residing in Travis and the surrounding counties.

Bigger IS Better

OK, at least sometimes – and this is one of those times.  As our current President is fond of saying – “here’s the deal”: the bigger the survey response rate is the better the information will be.  The better the information the more useful it will be to us as a community, to the City as it makes policy decisions, to businesses as they make their investment decisions and to nonprofits as they determine the services they need to provide for us. As of now we only have approximately 850 survey responses.  If the new Gallup poll finding that puts the estimated LGBTQ+ population at 5.5% is accurate for the Austin metro area, that is, if we are just AVERAGE, our LGBTQ+ population should be over 100,000!

Coalition Work Group

The Coalition has a work group focused on improving survey participation.  In the last couple of weeks that group has worked primarily on getting volunteers for a focus group of LGBTQ seniors of color – a population that has been particularly underrepresented in the survey response.  Participation in that focus group is still open at this point but it is limited to 10 participants on a first come first serve basis; if you are interested in participating let us know asap (info@algbtcoa.org) and we’ll get your contact information to the consultants.

We are turning our attention now to increasing the survey participation rate.  One of the tools that we’re planning to use is a “What if …..” campaign to illustrate how the survey can improve your quality of life in the future.

What if…..what if we could project the LGBTQ senior population in the Austin area in ten years. Maybe the options for affirming senior care could be better by the time you need them. 
The most important thing you can do right now to make that possible is to take the Quality of Life survey online at https://shoutoutaustin.org

What if……what if we had the information to accurately estimate the number of LGBTQ seniors aging alon?  We would have a useful tool in marshaling the resources to attack the problem of social isolation. 

The most important thing you can do right now to make that possible is take the Quality of Life survey online at https://shoutoutaustin.org

We encourage other organizations to craft similar statements that apply more specifically to their membership.  We will also combine that with periodic updates of the survey response rate so everyone can see how well we’re doing.  Anyone interested in helping out with the workgroup or with additional suggestions contact us at info@algbtcoa.org