Birmingham leaders have extended the deadline for responses to a community survey seeking answers about violent crime in the city.

The newly created Birmingham Crime Commission last month asked residents to complete the questionnaires. City leaders hope the answers will help tailor new programs aimed at community safety and youth development in the city.

Officials initially had asked residents to complete the surveys by Dec. 3, with plans to present the findings in mid-December. But the commission has extended the deadline to 11:59 p.m. Dec. 23.

“We’re tracking along to have a significant amount, but I think that it is grave that, by the end of this and by the time we report, we have many, many, many more,” said Arnee Odoms, a commission member and communications manager at Birmingham Promise. “We want to give everybody the opportunity to complete those surveys. We distributed them through email lists, in-person, focus groups, neighborhood association meetings, all totaling more than 100,000 attempts. And so that was done from a grassroots perspective. Now we want to push digitally, on the news and on our social media … because we know that there’s a sector of the population that may not have heard about them just yet.”

When asked Wednesday how many responses the commission has received so far, Odoms said they had not yet looked directly at the responses. The commission’s report should be available at the beginning of the year, she said.

The commission has three surveys available the public:

1. Community Member Survey: For all Birmingham residents, including business owners, neighborhood association leaders and nonprofit initiative leaders.
2. Church Leader Survey: For faith leaders interested in youth development and community safety.
3. Teachers and Parents Survey: For educators, parents and guardians working with youth.

The commission’s work comes as the city has experienced record high homicide rates and public calls for city leaders to institute policies that will rein in violent crime.

In addition to the Crime Commission, city leaders passed a budget that included $16 million for police recruitment and retention efforts.

The Birmingham Crime Commission is modeled after one the city organized during surging violence in the 1990s under Richard Arrington’s administration. Using other cities as models, it provided a number of short-term and long-term recommendations to improve police operations, refocus resources and improve community relations, according to city officials.