An inside look at how a Coachella Valley health survey is conducted and funded as it looks for more participants

PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ) – Did you receive $2 in the mail asking for your response to a survey?

If you did, you were likely randomly chosen for a health survey ran by Health Assessment and Research for Communities, or HARC, Inc.

25,000 valley households were invited to participate in the survey online or in-person with a $2 bill in the envelope. HARC is offering $20 Visa gift cards for those who complete the survey.

HARC, Inc. releases new data every three years. The last report came in 2022, and now, in 2025, the nonprofit is asking for participants to help provide "insights into healthcare access, mental health, food insecurity, and more."

According to Amairani Ramos, the Communications Manager for HARC, the nonprofit takes on the difficult task of sizing up a demographic that includes a large portion of part-time residents. She also acknowledges the vast differences between most health surveys, which lumps the Coachella Valley with western Riverside County, and HARC's survey.

"We're very unique as you mentioned, we have snowbirds in certain times of the year. We also have farmworkers. We also have people in Palm Springs whose income may vary from those farmworkers out in the East Valley," Ramos explains. "We definitely have a different story from Riverside County and from other organizations. So [HARC's] data is able to compile everyone and tell a more descriptive story of who we are."

When talking about the healthcare providers in the desert that frequently cite survey data, Ramos says, "They're able to calculate how many physicians they need in the area, whether it's specialists for cancer or diabetes, asthma or anything else that may be prevalent in the area."

Local nonprofits benefit, too. Jewish Family Service of the Desert is one of those organizations. Executive Director of the nonprofit, Kraig Johnson, says, "It's what we use primarily to cite need for community services, need for our specific services in mental health and in social services. Case management. HARC is really the only source for that data locally."

Johnson says the data is also helpful when the nonprofit applies for grant funding. "Hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years, certainly. We have about between 30 and 40 grants that we're operating a year. And again, every single one of those applications, we will utilize HARC data."

But Ramos says for this year's survey, the nonprofit needs your help. Check your mailbox to see if you were one of 25,000 to be randomly selected to participate; if so, you've earned your $2. But they also encourage you to fill out the survey, and you'll earn the $20 gift card, too. Ultimately, they say it's for the benefit of yourself and the community.

HARC hopes to finish collecting responses by this month, though it could be extended if it does not reach its response goal. "We're trying to reach 2000 adults and 500 children. We're still very short of the adults and for the kids, we have about 400 surveys, so we're a little bit closer."

Ramos says after responses are collected, HARC contracts a third-party to accurately scale and tabulate the responses to the Coachella Valley's population.

The survey is confidential. HARC says you can scan the QR code in the envelope to take the survey online. Respondents can also call HARC and request a paper form – just make sure you keep the unique code inside the flyer.

HARC was established in 2006 in Palm Desert and has released its report every three years since 2007. This year's report is expected to be released in early 2026.

If you'd like to access previous health reports, you can view them on HARC's website.