On Nov. 2, an online community survey asking whether Auburn residents would like to help improve the community and its government went live at inclusive.auburnwa.gov.

Its singular goal is to help the city serve residents better by building a more diverse, inclusive and equitable environment for everyone who lives in the community and for city staff and visitors, according to Brenda Goodson-Moore, the city’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Program Manager.

“The survey will provide us with information on how we as a city can best improve our services to make them more equitable and socially just. We want to deepen our understanding of the city from the perspective of community members,” said Goodson-Moore.

City leaders and staff are committed to making all of that happen, she said.

The survey, translated into the top seven languages spoken in the city — Spanish, Marshallese, Russian, Mandarin, Tagalog, Hindi and Vietnamese — based on current census and city data, will be wrapped up by Dec. 31, 2020.

The survey asks 26 questions and takes about 15 minutes to complete.

It starts off with a few basic demographic questions like one’s age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and so on.

The survey includes queries like, “In what ways does the city government in Auburn inform, cultivate, nurture and support (your core) values?” And “what are the underlying causes of inequity in the city of Auburn and in your community?”

Likewise, the survey asks residents to join community discussions, to shoulder their share of the burden of accomplishing the city’s racial-equity goals, and to have “courageous conversations to bring about growth and change.”

“One of the data points of the Racing to Equity Consulting Group, which is compiling the data for us, is to perform an organizational assessment for us,” Goodson-Moore said. “That is the whole reason why we put the survey out. Because, we are going to use this organizational assessment, which will have quantitative and qualitative data analysis and key findings and recommendations to ensure that we are becoming a more inclusive and equitable city.”

The survey is completely confidential.

“The consulting group that put it out and is collecting the data is able to maintain strict confidentiality requirements and ensure that respondents’ information and answers are not shared with anyone with identifiable information,” said Goodson-Moore. “ Of course, we will receive data, but none of it is identifying information. It’s going to provide city government and leadership with current information to make the city more equitable and inclusive, and we want to encourage every one of our residents to complete the survey. We want to elevate the voices of the community by sharing, by hearing what their experiences are, and those experiences will be reflected in our findings and our recommendations.”