Abstract

Community wellbeing in mid-sized Southern U.S. cities faces a combination of pressures from issues such as entrenched poverty, limited food access, deteriorating infrastructure, and elevated crime rates. This study reports findings from a preliminary, mixed-methods assessment of community wellbeing perceptions in Jackson, Mississippi. Employing the Atkinson et al. (2020) People-Place-Power framework and the What Works Centre for Wellbeing (Bagnall, 2018) indicator model, we analyzed data from five stakeholder focus groups (n ≈ 55 participants) representing neighborhood residents (renters), local NGO members, neighborhood association leaders, local business owners, and college students. Qualitative thematic analysis of transcripts was combined with nonparametric statistical methods named Kruskal-Wallis H tests and Dunn's post hoc comparisons with Bonferroni correction to identify divergences and areas of consensus across groups. Chi-square tests of independence were applied to categorical ranking data across five wellbeing domains. Findings reveal near-universal concern over crime and public safety (100% of business owners; 80–83% of college students and renters), significant inter-group heterogeneity regarding food access (100% of students vs. 50% of renters) and differential prioritization of infrastructure, parks, and city leadership. Results align with the Governance and Place dimensions of the Bagnall framework and support recent scholarship on resource deserts in the urban South. Implications for participatory comprehensive planning, community capacity-building, and equitable resource allocation are discussed.

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