Study Finds New Britain Residents Have Low Opinion of Local Government and Civic Life

New Britain residents are less satisfied than Connecticut residents as a whole with their local government and civic life in the city, according to a New Britain-specific report by the research organization, DataHaven.

DataHaven’s New Britain 2023 Equity Profile found that New Britain residents, by a 61% to 67% margin, are less likely to feel that they have some influence over their local government than in the state as a whole.

That opinion of local government in New Britain was also lower than the opinion of residents in all of New Britain’s neighboring towns about their local governments, in their DataHaven Equity Profiles. That includes 70% of Berlin residents, 70% of Southington residents, 64% of Plainville residents, 82% of Farmington residents and 65% of Newington residents believing that they have some influence over their local government.

The study also found that only, “Forty-two percent of adults in New Britain feel their local government is responsive to residents’ needs, compared to 53 percent of Connecticut adults.”

People’s belief that they have influence over their local government and that it is responsive to their needs appears to be generally affected by people’s economic prospects. In Bristol and East Hartford, for example, where median household incomes, the study found, have declined over the past two decades, there are similar opinions of local government as in New Britain, and Meriden’s residents opinions of their local government appeared far lower than New Britain residents’.

But, even in Hartford, where the study found only 30% of residents thought their local government is responsive to their needs, more people than in New Britain, 67%, thought they have some influence in their local government.

DataHaven also found that only 45% of New Britain residents consider the city a good place to raise kids, compared with 75% of Connecticut residents saying their towns were. A similarly low number, 47%, said that youths in New Britain have positive role models, compared to nearly 80% of Connecticut residents who felt kids have positive role models in their towns.

While 71% of New Britain residents said that they trust their neighbors and 75% said that they are satisfied with the area, those figures are 14% and 9%, respectively, below what Connecticut residents, as a whole, said about where they live. And, the only 58% of New Britain residents who said that it is safe to walk at night in New Britain is more than ten percent fewer than the proportion of state residents as a whole felt safe to walk at night where they live.

DataHaven said, about this data, that,

several measures from the DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey show how local adults feel about the health of their neighborhoods. High quality of life and community cohesion can positively impact resident well-being through the availability of resources, sense of safety, and participation in civic life. For example, adults who see the availability of role models in their community may enroll their children in extracurricular activities that benefit them educationally and socially; residents who know and trust their neighbors may find greater social support.

DataHaven’s research appears to show that economic prospects for New Britain residents have been difficult. According to DataHaven’s Greater Hartford Community Wellbeing Index, New Britain’s median household income, adjusted for inflation, has stagnated between 1980 and 2020, even while, “inflation-adjusted median household incomes in Greater Hartford and Connecticut have grown about 27 percent.”

The New Britain Equity Profile also showed a downward movement in median household incomes in New Britain, specifically over the twenty years, from 2000 to 2021.

DataHaven says that,

The DataHaven Town Equity Reports disaggregate data from the 2020 Census, American Community Survey microdata files, DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey record-level files, and federal and state agencies to create relevant town-level information that is not available from any other source. These innovative and user-friendly reports are informing many local- and state-level efforts to improve community well-being and racial equity.

DataHaven says its,

mission is to empower people to create thriving communities by collecting and ensuring access to data on well-being, equity, and quality of life. We have served Connecticut as a nonprofit organization since 1992, working with many partners to develop reports, tools, and technical assistance programs that make information more useful to local communities.

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