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Question: I am trying to guage the recreational needs of 12 -15 year olds (and their families). Do you know of a tool that I can use or adapt to assit me. We will do broad consultation but I wanted to get specific feedback from the youth themselves and their familes. Any assistance that you can provide would be appreciated.
Answer: Thank you so much for taking on this important task of improving the lives of our young people. We have an entire chapter on assessing community needs (Chapter 3, /tools/en/chapter_1003.htm). You might want to consider the Concerns Report Methodology, found in section 10 within that chapter. You could create an inventory of 30 or so items with the youth, and the youth could then have their peers rate those items by importance and satisfaction. Those items they rate high in importance (e.g., they are interested in it) and low in satisfaction (e.g., they cannot yet get involved due to lack of access) could become the next youth recreational program! Best of luck in your work.
Question Date: Fri, 06/01/2007