The Jamestown Human Rights Commission is considering different ways to gather information on the proposed equity index for the city.

During last week’s Human Rights Commission meeting, members expressed their desire to personally engage the community through conversations in an attempt to gather information that could be used for a future equity index for the city, rather than merely rely on surveys and statistical data.

Kimberly Knight, a member of the commission, stressed the importance of establishing meaningful connections with the community.

“It’s talking with people,” she said. “That’s what we need to be doing, talking with the real people in the community.”

While information can be gathered through surveys and analytics, she believes face-to-face encounters with local residents are more important and will be better reflective of the community’s needs.

The Rev. Uvie Stewart Jr. and chairman said he is hoping to have an update on the research for the equity index to share with the committee by the next meeting. He suggested that the commission partner with the I.D.E.A. for the statistical data while also actively engaging with the community.

Stewart said partnering with another organization that has access to more information could be very beneficial for the commission.

“It’s a lot of information,” he said. “I think they would have better resources to compile that type of information than we would. They pull a lot of information from a lot of different resources.”

However, while Stewart believes information collected from organizations such as the I.D.E.A. could be helpful, he agreed with Knight that the best way to collect information that could lead to an equity index would be to talk with members of the community.

“I think it would be a good idea even to go back to our exploration groups and ask them what’s important,” he said.

By reaching out to members of the community, Stewart believes the commission can gather information from all aspects of Jamestown.

Stewart emphasized the need to engage people from all backgrounds in conversations about the equity index.

“We have to somehow reach all four corners of Jamestown,” he said.