Assessing Community Needs and Resources:

Outline with Links to Tools for Assessing Community Needs and Resources

Describe the makeup and history of the community to provide a context within which to collect data on its current concerns.
Chapter 3, Section 2: Understanding and Describing the Community
Chapter 3, Section 4: Collecting Information About the Problem
Chapter 3, Section 12: Conducting Interviews
Chapter 3, Section 13: Conducting Surveys

Comment on the types of information that best describes the community (e.g., demographic, historical, political, civic participation, key leaders, past concerns, geographic, assets)
Describe the sources of information used (e.g., public records, local people, internet, maps, phone book, library, newspaper) of information
Chapter 3, Section 15: Qualitative Methods to Assess Community Issues
Chapter 3, Section 19: Using Public Records and Archival Data
Comment on whether there are sufficient resources (e.g., time, personnel, resources) available to collect this information
Chapter 3, Section 8: Identifying Community Assets and Resources
Describe the methods (e.g., public forums, listening sessions, focus groups, interviews, surveys, observation) used to collect descriptive information
Assess the quality of the information
Describe the strengths and problems you heard about
Chapter 3, Section 14: SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

Describe what matters to people in the community, including a description of:
Chapter 8, Section 6: Obtaining Feedback from Constituents: What Changes are Important and Feasible?
Chapter 18, Section 2: Participatory Approaches to Planning Community Interventions

Describe what matters to key stakeholders, including:
Chapter 3, Section 1: Developing a Plan for Identifying Local Needs and Resources
Chapter 3, Section 7: Conducting Needs Assessment Surveys
Chapter 3, Section 11: Determining Service Utilization
Chapter 18, Section 3: Identifying Targets and Agents of Change: Who Can Benefit and Who Can Help?

Who else cares about the issue (the stakeholders) and what do they care about?
What stakeholders want to know about the situation (e.g., who is affected, how many, what factors contribute to the problem)
Prioritized populations and subgroups that stakeholders intend to benefit from the effort
Methods you will (did) use to gather information (e.g., surveys, interviews)
Chapter 3, Section 12: Conducting Interviews
Chapter 3, Section 13: Conducting Surveys

(For each candidate problem/goal) Describe the evidence indicating whether the problem/goal should be a priority issue, including:
Chapter 3, Section 5: Collecting Information About the Problem
Chapter 3, Section 9: Developing Baseline Measures of Behavior
Chapter 8, Section 6: Obtaining Feedback from Constituents: What Changes are Important and Feasible?

The community-level indicators (e.g., rate of infant deaths or vehicle crashes) related to the issue
Chapter 38, Section 9: Gathering and Using Community-Level Indicators
How frequently the problem (or related behavior) occurs (e.g., number of youth reporting alcohol use in the past 30 days)
How many people are affected by the problem and the severity of its effects
How feasible it is to address the issue
Possible impact and/or consequences of addressing the problem/goal

Describe the barriers and resources for addressing the identified issue(s), including:
Chapter 3, Section 1: Developing a Plan for Identifying Local Needs and Resources
Chapter 3, Section 8: Identifying Community Assets and Resources
Chapter 30, Section 5: Identifying Opponents
Chapter 35, Section 1: Overview of Opposition Tactics: Recognizing the Ten D's
Chapter 35, Section 2: How to Respond to Counterattacks

Barriers or resistance to solving the problem or achieving the goal (e.g., denial or discounting of the problem) and how they can be minimized (e.g., reframing the issue)
What resources and assets are available and how the group can tap into those resources to address the issue
Community context or situation that might make it easier or more difficult to address this issue

(Based on the assessment) Select and state the priority issue (or issues) to be addressed by the group.

The CTB is a service of the

The Community Tool Box