Thanks to those volunteers who completed the survey that was sent out during February.
The Graffiti Team reviewed all responses which are summarised as follows:
Why did you choose to be part of our programme?
The overwhelming response from our volunteers was that they are part of our programme given their dislike of graffiti and that the programme offered them the opportunity to give back to their community.
As a volunteer, how well supported do you feel?
Out of 81 responses and with 0 being not supported at all and 5 being very well supported: 65 people responded with a 5, 13 people with a 4 and 3 with a 3.
Suggestions for ways we could improve our support included
- promoting our office hours
- being provided with graffiti statistics
- recruiting more volunteers
- having a quicker turnaround time for Snap Send Solve reports
- being able to remove graffiti from utility cabinets.
We have addressed these issues by making sure that:
- Our office hours are included in any publications.
- Graffiti statistics will become a regular feature in the newsletter.
- Recruitment is one of our focusses this year. We have just produced a new recruitment poster and are currently looking at producing a video clip for the Christchurch City Council website.
- We follow up with the call centre in relation to the turnaround times in relation to Snap Send Solve reports.
- Any graffiti on utility cabinets continues to remain the responsibility of the asset owner and can be reported to our call centre for follow up action. If there are time delays surrounding graffiti removal to these sites, please contact us, as we are more than happy to follow up.
Challenges that faced our volunteers included:
- Lack of time.
- Turnaround time for graffiti removal.
- Out of scope graffiti incidents.
- Volunteers receiving criticism from members of the public in the course of their volunteering roles.
- Graffiti in the central city.
We have addressed these issues as follows:
- We are mindful that many people have different time commitments and are grateful for any amount of time that can be given to support our programme.
- The turnaround time for the contractors is currently 2 to 3 days. If there are time delays for any graffiti removal please contact us so we can follow up.
- At the time of reporting any graffiti that is deemed to be out of scope, the reporter will be advised accordingly. These reports are then forwarded to us and we'll contact the asset owner for follow up.
- There may be times where volunteers are subjected to criticism for what they do. Your safety is our number one concern and as such if you feel that your safety is being compromised please remove yourself from the situation and contact the police. It is also a timely reminder that Tag Remover volunteers particularly, are required to wear their vests at all times. As per the Volunteer Agreement we ask that you please notify us of any injury or incident to yourself or a member of the public.
- Graffiti in the central city continues to be present, of which many incidents are either at height or deemed to be out of scope. Val has been working closely with the graffiti contracts manager, urban generation staff from the Christchurch City Council and property owners to address this issue.
Ninety eight per cent of volunteers stated they would recommend the Off the Wall programmes to others with 1.2% stating they would not. Our goal is to have 100% of our volunteers recommending our programmes.
As always this feedback is encouraged and valued. If you have any further comments or suggestions please feel to contact us.
