Needs Assessment - Examples of Community Needs Assessment

Examples of Community Needs Assessment

Bridging the Gaps: Toward an Efficient Social Service Delivery in Bayview Hunters Point

This is a good example as needs are identified in several different ways, such as research, survey analysis, and current gaps in service provision. All of this information can be used as analysis towards future policy implementation or as a focal point for discussion.

The author examined significant statistics that showed a need within the community of Bayview Hunters Point in order to “identify gaps in service delivery system to create a road map for improving neighborhood conditions by rationalizing the allocation of city dollars to social service programs” (Burke, 7). For example, in 2003, 174 children were removed from family homes in the Bayview; this is more than 18% of all children removed from their family in San Francisco. Such numbers could signify a need within the foster care system or family resources. The author also looked at the broad-based survey, Project Connect, which gathered data from 10,330 households specifically about their needs for services and current service utilization practices in the summer of 2004. The analysis from 1,551 Bayview households showed that their priorities, in order, are 1) childcare services, 2) health services, 3) tutoring/educational services, 4) immigrant services, 5) foodbank/meal services. According to the Child Care Planning and Advisory Council, in 2002 the unmet need for subsidized care in Bayview Hunters Point included 2,379 slots for children 0-13. Such needs were gathered from identifying how many slots exist, and whether families can pay for those slots.

Environmental Community Needs Assessment Example:
Gupta et al. developed a model focused at the community level they term community needs analysis. Their model involves identifying material problems/deficits/weaknesses and advantages/opportunities/strengths, and evaluating possible solutions that take those qualities into consideration. (Note this is different from Kaufman's Mega model that focuses on identifying societal-level needs).

Community needs assessment involves assessing the needs that people have in order to live in:

1. an ecologically sustainable environment
2. a community that maintains and develops viable social capital
3. a way that meets their own economic and financial requirements
4. a manner that permits political participation in decisions that affect themselves

Community needs assessment as a technique thus forms a part of an Ecologically Sustainable Community Economic Development (ESCED). It forms a first step in any project that aims to secure:

1. Ecological enhancement: minimizing ecological impact or ameliorating any ecological damage
2. Social vitality: building a community that meets all the social and human needs of its members
3. Economic resilience: "shock-proofing" local "green" business enterprises as much as possible
4. Political participation in ways that ensure the participation of people in political decisions that affect them

Community needs assessment has especial usefulness in action-learning projects, and in ensuring that organisations meet green objectives of:

• social justice
• participatory democracy
• non-violent resolution of conflict
• ecologically sustainable development

RT Journal

Mental Health Promotion Program for Rural Communities in Ireland A cross-sectional study of the mental health beliefs and perceptions was conducted which employed a combination of interviewer-administered questionnaires that explored the levels of awareness, current practices, attitudes and stigma concerning depression and suicide among a randomly selected quota sample of community members in Ireland. Community needs assessments can be used for a variety of reasons. Communities are the experts in their own experience. In order to define and create solutions for communities, needs assessments should be conducted.