I definitely jinxed myself last week… this week has been far busier than last, which is very exciting and I’m glad we were able to accomplish so much this week.

Shelby, Kate, and I conducted several amazing interviews with residents, key informants, and community partners, and even some community guides in the process. In addition, we were able to meet many helpful innovators in residence who have provided much help in the qualitative aspects of our research. Many interviews were conducted in person this week, which has been such a lovely experience. It is so great to listen to people and hear their different stories.

We have also been working on our poster for the upcoming Project Expo. Its honestly a struggle because there is so much information that feels important enough to include, but there’s only so much one can adequately put on a poster while still looking professional and being readable.

We also continued to recruit and make new connections with some local Bethlehem business, as well as non-profits such as Lehigh Valley Trash Pact.

We are collecting so much information, so next steps will be uploading all of the recordings from our devices onto our laptops, so that the information can be transcribed and potentially coded as well. It has been interesting to hear similar things from residents- such as a hatred for the parking authority, but a desire for a trash authority equivalent, as well as wishes for city-wide compost. Also, it seems that while single-hauler is more supported than ever, it genuinely might not be the best solution for Bethlehem. I think we need to hear more from Southside residents living in the highly densely populated areas- which will hopefully happen soon thanks to connections from Carolina Hernandez and Diane Elliot. Regardless, there are many alternate solutions we can now look into for the city, such as compost, more education, more enforcement, etc. as well as implementing large collection days for items like Styrofoam and batteries.

A struggle this week has definitely been organization, since there is so many paper notes, consent forms, guides, fliers, gift cards, thank-yous, etc. so a goal of mine for next week is to be more organized and on top of materials!

I am excited to continue meeting with residents and experts next week!