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San Luis Obispo - Caltrans - State of California

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SAN LUIS OBISPO REGION<br />

COORDINATED HUMAN SERVICES-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION PLAN<br />

coordination potential. The second page requested information specifically describing the<br />

agency’s transportation function. In designing the survey, significant attention was paid to the<br />

wording and sequencing <strong>of</strong> the questions. The final version <strong>of</strong> the survey included 23<br />

questions, which in addition to contact information asked four agency characteristic questions,<br />

four questions on needs, coordination issues, and 14 questions to obtain resource information<br />

about the transportation service the agency provided. There were three open-ended questions.<br />

Constructing the Database<br />

A relational database was built in Micros<strong>of</strong>t Access from the original mailing list data set for the<br />

Coordinated Action Plan Inventory. The database consists <strong>of</strong> two primary tables and several<br />

supporting tables.<br />

- Table Agencies - agency name and address, source(s) <strong>of</strong> agency record<br />

- Table Survey - inventory data<br />

Supporting tables include look-up tables for coded inventory questions and other tables, such as<br />

zip codes used with the sector table for assigning surveys to <strong>San</strong> <strong>Luis</strong> <strong>Obispo</strong> County<br />

geographical areas.<br />

Additionally, a spreadsheet file <strong>of</strong> “contacts” has been maintained through the project, to identify<br />

individuals within agencies who have transportation concern. Finding the “right” people within<br />

agencies remains a priority to promoting coordination and is critical to retain these names.<br />

These databases will be provided to SLOCOG at the end <strong>of</strong> the project for ongoing use and<br />

maintenance.<br />

3.2 STAKEHOLDER SURVEY FINDINGS<br />

The finalized survey was mailed out twice to stakeholder agencies. The first mailing to almost<br />

400 agencies went out in early January 2007, immediately after the holidays. A cover letter<br />

from the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Luis</strong> <strong>Obispo</strong> Council <strong>of</strong> Governments explained the survey’s intent towards<br />

preparation <strong>of</strong> the locally-developed coordinated action plan for <strong>San</strong> <strong>Luis</strong> <strong>Obispo</strong> County. A<br />

return envelope was included, to facilitate return mail <strong>of</strong> the survey although the survey could<br />

also be returned by fax or email. The survey as it was mailed out is included as Appendix 3-A<br />

with the SLOCOG cover letter introducing the plan development process.<br />

The survey was mailed a second time, in order to improve the response rate, having made<br />

corrections to the mailing list from the returned mail. Approximately 350 agencies were remailed<br />

a survey in late February, with a large lettering on the cover letter indicating “Second<br />

Request.” Surveys received, as <strong>of</strong> this writing number 61, representing a 16percent return rate<br />

on the current database <strong>of</strong> 379 agency records.<br />

3.2.1 Characteristics <strong>of</strong> Responding Agencies<br />

Legal characteristics, caseload sizes and client populations served are described here for the<br />

responding agencies. Figure 3-1 shows the largest group <strong>of</strong> responding agencies were private,<br />

non-pr<strong>of</strong>it (27 agencies-44 percent), followed closely by public agencies (25 agencies-41<br />

percent). Private, for-pr<strong>of</strong>it agencies were third most frequent (7 agencies-11 percent) and faithbased<br />

organizations were the least frequent (2 agencies-3 percent). No tribal organizations<br />

24<br />

OCTOBER 2007

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