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Taking Needs Assessment to the Next Level

Taking Needs Assessment to the Next Level. Iowa Community Action Association Janet Carl, Facilitator. Why a more comprehensive process?. 1. Authorizing legislation 2. Richer information 3. First step in ROMA planning cycle 4. Gain new partnerships/resources

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Taking Needs Assessment to the Next Level

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  1. Taking Needs Assessment to the Next Level Iowa Community Action Association Janet Carl, Facilitator

  2. Why a more comprehensive process? • 1. Authorizing legislation • 2. Richer information • 3. First step in ROMA planning cycle • 4. Gain new partnerships/resources • 5. Clearly link needs to strategies

  3. Greg Pieper on comprehensive needs assessment “The plan has always been to use these [statewide surveys] as starting points in the needs assessment process….  With that said, these surveys are designed to identify, for each agency, the ‘general’ areas of needs in the state and in each of the agencies’ service area.  Agencies should then create their own agency-specific, need-specific surveys based on the information from these surveys. ”

  4. NASCSP resource • “A Community Action Guide to Comprehensive Community Needs Assessment” • www.nascsp.org • Barbara Mooney, EdD • Margaret Power, PhD

  5. ROMA Planning Cycle

  6. Outcome • --New attitude, skill or knowledge or changed reality, increased capacity • --Individual, agency, community levels of outcomes

  7. ROMA Planning Cycle

  8. Steps in Planning Process • 1. Agree on a new/expanded approach • 2. Define community, needs, assets • 3. Create assessment plan • 4. Create data collection plan • 5. Implement plan • 6. Analyze data; report and interpret findings

  9. Step 2: Define community, needs, assets • 1.geographical boundaries • 2. overlapping political authorities • 3. populations with common characteristics, interests • Needs: categorize them • Assets: tangible and intangible

  10. 3. Create Assessment Plan • Assessment Coordinator • Agency/board team

  11. What is your lens? What are the 2-6 questions you’d really like the answers to? --economic and social trends --effect of family trends (e.g., divorce, educational level) on employment, security and well being --future employment opportunities --particular populations

  12. Data collection planning matrix

  13. Steps 5 and 6 • Implement data collection plan • Analyze data and report

  14. Sample questions • What target population are you particularly interested in? • What specifically do you want to know about this population in terms of both needs and assets? • What specifically do you want to know about community and agency capacity to address this group’s needs?

  15. Heather RohnOutcomes and Quality Assurance DirectorNortheast Missouri Community Action Agency • Where did you find data already existing? • What other data did you gather? • Lessons learned from your needs assessment process

  16. Types of data available Databases Public—census, state departments, counties, towns, chambers of commerce Private—CAA—agency and state numbers including NPI reports, Head Start data, CSBG

  17. Surveys • 1. Staff suggest questions • 2. Inquire about assets • 3. Don’t re-invent the wheel www.communityaction.org • 4. Not a customer satisfaction measurement • 5. Skip the jargon

  18. Practice avoiding the P word Re-write: What do you think is the main cause of poverty in our community?

  19. Meetings • Focus groups • Community Forums • Interviews

  20. Final Assessment Report 1. Avoid pages of raw data 2. Compare data from different times, places and groups—relate to your framework 3. Organize into sections by framework 4. Test conclusions 5. Different reports, different stakeholders

  21. Melanie Corporon • Director of Community Development & Planning, Missouri Valley Community Action Agency • How has your recent needs assessment allowed your agency to seek new partners and new funding?

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