Community Assessments Presentation for the Nutrition, Environment, & Food Systems for Empowerment Internship Program Sharon Lezberg 6/2015

Presenter Information My involvement in NEFSE Mentor, along with Joe Hankey, for the Brentwood Gardens for Empowerment Project Sharon Lezberg Community Resource Development Educator, Dane County-UW Extension

What is a community assessment? -Identification of assets, needs, and community characteristics -A tool used to understand issues within a community  Where are we now?  Where do we want to be in the future?  How do we get to the future we desire?

Other Terms Utilized Needs Assessment

What is a Situational Analysis? Collecting Analyzing Delivering Information Past Trends Current  Conditions  Issues  Problems  Opportunities  Challenges About Context Community Cultural Political Historical A systematic method for:

A Word About Assets and Needs Assets are those resources that exist within a community and can be used to help meet community needs. Community needs are “the gap between what a situation is and what it should be” (University of Kansas Work Group for Community Health and Development)

Building Community Capacity “Community’s ability to define and solve their own problems” (D. Easterling, The Colorado Trust) Ability to provide “local solutions to local problems” (R. Atkinson & P. Willis, University of Tasmania)

Why do Community Assessment?  To gain an understanding of the community, including demographics, natural resource base, infrastructure, and systems (health, economic, etc.)  In order to serve a community, you need to understand it  Used to identify assets and needs  Essential in planning: understand the past, evaluate the present, prepare for the future  To test assumptions and relevance of activities, projects

What are the underlying issues? - Use questions and research to get below the surface - In community work, it takes time to build trust - Accept that individuals within a community will have different interpretations of a situation

Steps in a Community Assessment Define the Purpose & Scope Identify Collaborators Collect Data – Gather existing data – Identify data gaps – Collect & analyze required information Determine Key Findings Set Priorities and Create an Action Plan

Define Purpose and Scope Identify community issue to be assessed, the impacted community members, and the geographic area to access Determine key questions that you want answered Be sure that your questions are related to the purpose of the assessment

Identify Collaborators Community members should be engaged in planning and implementation Collaboration with other partners (corporations, nonprofit organizations, local community organizations) will increase access to data and to resources Establishes relationships that will be important for implementation and action

Collect Data – Gather existing data – Identify data gaps – Collect & analyze required information – Present the information to community partners – Analyze the information, with community partners

Data Sources Secondary Data: demographic data from Census, American Community Survey, other sources. In Wisconsin, the Applied Population Laboratory is a great source of data. Secondary data may be for geographic areas that are larger in scope than your project area, and the data – if aggregated data – may mask disparities across populations.

Gather your own Assessment Data – Surveys – Asset Mapping – Informal Dialogue – Key Informant Interviews – Focus Groups – SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) – Network Analysis – Ethnography

How do you Gather data from people who are marginalized, vulnerable, or hard to reach? Participatory techniques – Participatory appraisal: needs matrix, community asset mapping, social resource mapping – Photo voice – Community dialogues & visioning Personal observation

Community Mapping

Photo Voice

Determine Key Findings Purposes of key findings: -They validate anecdotal evidence of community needs and assets. -They highlight significant trends found in the data collection process. -They reveal differences across segments of the community -They help clarify answers to the community assessment’s key questions.

Set Priorities and Create an Action Plan Setting priorities through community process Action/implementation Planning: – Key finding (issue) – Activity or response – Deadline – Person responsible – Indicators of success