Indicators for Success of the Civic Building and Vetrerans Plaza

[THIS IS ANOTHER GUEST BLOG. THIS ONE IS FROM OUR INTERN DAVID ZUCKERMAN]

Hi everyone,

My name is David Zuckerman and I’m a graduate student at the University of Maryland. Reemberto asked me to jump in with a guest blog post about what I’ve been working on at the Silver Spring Civic Center and Veterans Plaza for the past two months. For my capstone project for my Masters in Public Policy, I am working hard to make a contribution to this great new public space.

Having only been opened almost nine months, the Civic Center has already allowed significant community engagement opportunities through many private and public events. People can stop by to view local art on display, sit and chat with friends inside or outside, or celebrate important occasions like weddings and birthdays. These are all important to helping build Silver Spring’s community and encourage economic development in the downtown area. It is my job to help show these important impacts through indicators.

If we all recognize the value of this public asset, why do we need these indicators? These measures help us connect the activities that the Regional Service Center staff does each day and the long-term impacts the Center hopes to achieve, such as building community and increasing economic development, in the broader community. And although some of these indicators may seem too basic or narrow at first to be useful, such as observing how many people walk through the door, recording the increase in sales at surrounding restaurants, or even noting the number of hits on this blog, together, these measures begin to let us see what impact this new public space is having in the community.

A more in-depth look at what success measures are can be found on the website for NeighborWorks America - a prominent, national community development organization. The description of indicators here helps demonstrate how varied and extensive these measures can be. These measures help us more accurately evaluate how we are doing by piecing together the big picture, so we can better achieve the impacts we want. They help us ensure that we are on the right path.

For info, more insight, or a conversation, please {cut and paste and} e-mail me at dhz4488@umd.edu

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David Zuckerman
University of Maryland, College Park
B.A. Government and Politics, Class of 2010
Master of Public Policy Candidate, Class of 2011

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