Community Needs Assessment:

Moving from Organizational Standards to Implementation

Natalie Kramer, Community Action Partnership

Mary Virtue, Cornerstone Consultants

What are we going to cover?

• How to organize a Community Needs Assessment (CNA) to get the information you need to set your priorities and focus your resources

• How to use the Community Commons to access and organize statistical data

• How to gather qualitative data

• How to present data

The Big Picture

Moving from Organizational Standards to Implementation

Appoint guidance committee or work group

Define assessment goals

and organizing framework

Select data collection methods

Collect and Analyze data

Identify needs, levels of needs, and service gaps

Identify those needs that rise to

“priority”

Consider findings and create

recommendations

Prepare report

Keep the Big Picture of the Process in Mind

Organizing your Assessment Goals and Reporting Framework

Start with the end in mind. Organize around these questions:

What do you want to know?

AND

What do you need to know?

Principles for the Framework

We found that there are things we want to know about at three levels of need: Individual Community Agency In order to assure you are going to gather data in all these areas, you need to organize your assessment process around a series of key questions Who has the answers?? How can you get those answers ?

– Quantitative and Qualitative data Community Commons, surveys, interviews, focus groups….

Another Dimension of the Assessment Framework:

Relationships Organize your process and report so that you can find data to

– Identify the most critical needs – Explore how those needs inter-relate – Consider community resources that are already addressing these needs

The relationships among needs are often hard to explore when a CNA report is divided into domains like education, employment, health. What questions need to be asked to get at the relationships? How might you present statistical data to show these relationships?

Consider Time, Geography and Population

Compare this year’s data with prior data so that you can see changes over time at all three levels. (Individual, Community, Agency)

Think about these changes over time in two other dimensions:

– geographic regions and

– population demographics

Agency Data is a Part of the Framework

Organize your process so the results of your assessment can include consideration of your current programs. Gather information about the effectiveness of the programs, not just about how many were served. Identify any areas that may need to have newly designed strategies to meet your community’s needs

Using the Data to Identify Needs and also Service Gaps

• Use quantitative data to develop a community profile: o Demographic o Economic o Social

• Use qualitative data sources to identify: o Available community resources o At-risk or threatened resources o Perceptions about community needs o Current barriers to accessing services (or

perceived barriers)

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Causes and Conditions of Poverty DATA is a MUST HAVE

• Who is in your community? Has this changed?

• How do the conditions of our service area compare to the state? To the United States?

• What is the job environment?

• What is the culture of education?

• What is the health care status of our community?

Community Commons

www.communitycommons.org

Let’s Go Live

www.communitycommons.org

http://www.communitycommons.org/http://www.communitycommons.org/http://www.communitycommons.org/

Connecting the Dots

• What does this all mean?

• What do we focus on?

• What happens next?

Focus the Analysis

• Red dials

• Statistics showing change over time

• Known conditions

• Current programs

• Partnership opportunities

Causes and Conditions of Poverty WHAT DO YOU THINK?

• Who is in your community? Has this changed?

• How do the conditions of our service area compare to the state? To the United States?

• What is the job environment?

• What is the culture of education?

• What is the health care status of our community?

Qualitative Data

• Key Informant Interviews

• Community Forums

• Focus Groups

• Surveys

The Survey Methodology

How surveys are administered can impact the quality of the data received.

• Who is being asked to respond to the survey?

– Customers? General public? Partners?

• What time of year are surveys done?

• Is it easy for the target population to respond?

– What has been the rate of response in prior years?

Survey Questions

• Often the quality and value of the data you get from surveys will depend on the questions that are asked on the survey.

• If you limit the survey responses to a list of service categories (or domains) you will not get the depth of understanding that you will really need to make decisions about the needs.

Identifying key findings Questions to ask to identify “key findings” : • What are the areas of greatest community

need? – Can you identify the population that is most in

need? – The geographical area that is most in need?

• What do our customers most need? • What is currently being done to address the

need? • Who has control, or partial control over the

need?

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Making Recommendations

Questions to ask to begin to make recommendations for Strategic Planning : • What control does our agency have over the

need? • Which need are we best positioned to

address—either alone or with partners? • What capabilities do we have to address the

need? – What existing programs can address the need? – What part should our agency have in further

addressing the need? – At what level would our agency intervene?

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• Assessment means analysis, not just compilation • The final report communicates the agency’s

judgments about what the data and opinions mean and focuses on suggestions for choices to be considered in the next strategic plan.

• The beginning can include: – Statistics and community assets can be combined into

a profile of the community

• Organize the findings into the framework selected and analyze the results related to needs, assets and suggested solutions

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The Assessment Report

I. Executive Summary

Key Findings

Recommendations

II. Introduction and Methodology

III. CAA History and Programs

IV. Overview of XX Counties and Municipalities

V. Demographic Profile (age, gender, race/ethnicity, households, veterans)

VI. Changes in the community over time

VII. Key findings and summary of quantitative and qualitative data that supports each of them

Appendices:

A. Poverty Profile

B. Income Profile

C. Employment Profile

D. Transportation Profile

E. Public Benefits

F. Food Security

G. Education Profile

H. Child Care Profile

I. Housing Profile

J. Health Profile

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Example - CNA Report Table of Contents

Some things we’ve seen in the field

One of the challenges in using the reports that come out of a Community Needs Assessment is that they are long and dense.

Using it as the basis of planning can be tough.

Here are some questions we have used to help groups dig through the information

Questions in Reviewing the Community Needs Assessment Report

What are the top 5 needs in your community and how are they interconnected?

Often a graphic helps explain this best.

Questions in Reviewing the Community Needs Assessment Report

Not everyone thinks in pictures so here are some sentences that would help organize the data 1. My community includes the following demographics… 2. My community has important resources that help

families address the elements of poverty… 3. My community needs the following resources to help

families to address the elements of poverty… 4. Families in my community need the following support

if they are to address the elements of poverty… 5. Potential partners for my agency include that

following organizations that provide specific services…..

Questions in Reviewing the Community Needs Assessment Report

Now we need to consider what needs are most important. 1. How big is the need? If it is not addressed can

people still move out of poverty? 2. How many people/communities does it impact? 3. How hard would it be to make a change that

would reduce the need? 4. What organization, besides yours, is working on

this or could work on this need?

For More Info Contact:

• Mary Virtue, Cornerstone Consultants

maryvirtue12@gmail.com

• Natalie Kramer, Program Support Specialist, Community Action Partnership Nkramer@communityactionpartnership.com

This presentation was created by the National Association of Community Action Agencies – Community Action Partnership, in the performance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services Grant Number, 90ET0437 and 90ET0445 and in partnership with the

Association of Nationally Certified ROMA Trainers. Any opinion, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.

mailto:maryvirtue12@gmail.commailto:Nkramer@communityactionpartnership.com