1. Planning for a Comprehensive Community Needs Assessment Organizational Standards National Webinar Series Thursday, November 2nd 2017
Dr. Jarle Crocker | CCAP, NCRT
Director of T/TA
Courtney Kohler | MPA, CCAP, NCRT
Senior Associate, T/TA

2. CNA National Webinar Series
November 9th at 2:00 PM EST Collecting CNA Data
November 13th at 2:00 PM EST Analyzing CNA Data
November 20th at 2:00 PM EST Communicating the CNA

3. Agenda A brief overview on the importance of the CNA
Stage One: Preparing the agency and defining the scope
Stage Two: Creating an assessment plan
Stage Three: Creating a data collection plan

4. The Importance of Community Needs Assessments

5. What is a Needs Assessment?
A systematic process for creating a profile of the needs and resources of a given community or target population. (ROMA)
A process of collecting and analyzing a broad array of data and information to develop a comprehensive picture of a particular community. (Claire Higgins)

6. How Many Needs Assessments?
Assessments may be required by multiple funders, but multiple assessments should not be necessary.
Comprehensive assessment
Collaboration
Service integration
So we know that they are valuable, necessary, and required but how many assessments should an agency complete? We realized in Missouri that agencies were completing multiple CCNA throughout the year to meet specific program requirements. For example, the Head Start program has certain requirements for their needs assessments and the data information is incorporated.
Assessments may be required by multiple funders, but multiple assessments should not be necessary.
One comprehensive assessment should be able to be used
Leads to cross/inter agency collaborations, coordinated service delivery, and innovative solutions to the issues
Service integration leads to getting the best results possible
These basic issues and data that you gather in your CCNA could and should be used to meet other funding requriements. In Missouri, CAAs have moved to conducting one comprehensive assessment per year to meet the requirements for their communities and funding streams.

7. Connecting the CNA with Other Planning Processes
Community Needs Assessment
Strategic Plan
Community Action Plan

8. ROMA and the CNA
Assessment is the first stage of the ROMA cycle and helps determine: --Who are our customers? --What do they value? --What outcomes should we aim to achieve?
Assessment is the foundation of all subsequent phases
Assessment is an ongoing process

9. Key CNA Goals and Activities
Assess the needs and assets within the whole community.
Analyze the underlying causes of poverty
Identify overall service needs of populations, gaps in services, and barriers to services.
Determine if agency programs match community needs.
Support strategic planning and develop program priorities
Strengthen relationships with key partners and stakeholders
Build awareness of Community Action and support need for funding
Develop community consensus on a policy agenda
Focus on a particular program within your agency

10. Organizational Standards: Beyond Compliance
Standard 3.1 • The organization conducted a Community Assessment and issued a report within the past 3 years.
The assessment is comprehensive and covers the whole community
The report is shared with customers, partners, and the community

12. Technical Assistance Guide
Guidance on definition and intent
Guidance on interpretation and documentation
Resources to benchmark performance and improve

13. NASCSP Tools

14. The Five Stages of the CNA
Define Scope
Report
Assessment Plan
Implement Survey
Data Plan

15. 1. Prepare the agency and define the Scope
Choose an agency team
Identify potential supporters/partners
Present to leadership
Introduce assessment concept and choices
Choose the community to assess
Back to main

16. Roles of the Agency Team
Sets direction and provides oversight and feedback throughout the assessment process.
Facilitates linkages with community leaders and organizations.
Is deeply involved in the analysis of the data.
Provides long-term support for follow-up and implementation of recommendations.
Develop a budget
Define the community
What data will be needed
Who/what the sources of data will be
How the data will be collected

17. Who should be on the team?
Program Managers
Planning and development staff
Board Members
Community partners
Expert consultants
Examples of other agency staff:
Whose work makes them familiar with key partners, or
Whose work makes them familiar with participants

18. Potential CNA Supporters
Ask: Who has a shared interest in CNA data?
Public agencies
Other service providers
United Ways
Universities and community colleges
Community foundations
Hospital systems
Private sector

19. Tips for Stage One Engage key stakeholders and sectors from the start
Involve your board in multiple ways --Create a sub-committee --Engage other key partners and stakeholders --Access resources to support the process --Help with interview and research outreach
Define your audience and how the information will be used

20. Choosing the Target Community
Consider looking at multiple levels – zip code/census tract, neighborhood, city/county, region
Don’t exclude communities outside of your service area
Use the boundary discussion to identify key stakeholders to engage
Make sure to target stakeholders beyond your client population
Define what it means to be in poverty

21. How do You Define Poverty?
Supplemental Poverty Measure
“The SPM extends the official poverty measure by taking account of many of the government programs designed to assist low-income families and individuals that are not included in the current official poverty measure.”

22. Choose Your Categories
Community Commons Online Tool
Domains of CSBG Act
Population Profile
Employment
Education
Housing
Income
Nutrition
Health Care
Employment
Education
Income Management
Housing
Emergency Services
Nutrition
Self Sufficiency
Health
Services for Youth
Services for Senior Citizens

23. Consider… What domains did you use in your last needs assessment?
Did the way you organized your domains create any challenges with data collection?
Are you considering any changes to how you organize your domains?

24. 2. Create an Assessment Plan
Develop your “Data Collection Planning Matrix”
Brainstorm assets and needs
Create “wish lists” organized by type
Back to main

25. The Data Collection Planning Matrix
Developed by the Agency Team and/or consultant
Helps the team to brainstorm what potential types of data to collect
Helps organize the data into the three ROMA levels of individual/family, organizations/agencies, and community
Helps to identify potential challenges with domains and data collection
Helps streamline the data collection process by prioritizing what data to collect

26. Key Questions for the Data Collection Plan
What individual/family needs will be assessed?
What organizations’ needs will be assessed?
What community-specific needs will be assessed?
What data and indicators are needed?
How will the data be gathered?

27. Develop Your Data Collection Planning Matrix
Level
What Data?
Who Has It?
How is it Collected?
Individual/Family
Quantitative
Qualitative
Organizations/ Agencies
Community
brainstorm with your team:
What issues you will prioritize in data collection
Different sources you will use to get a variety of type and level of data
What method you will utilize for each

28. Sample Data Planning Matrix

29. 3. Create a Data Collection Plan
Data Plan
Decide what data is needed
Engage your Board to define member roles
Develop the message to community partners
Back to main

30. Engaging Stakeholders Through Data Collection
General Public
Community Organizations
Key Partners
Customers

31. Remember to Include Multi-Level Data
National
Region/State
Community
Target Population

32. Decide What Data is Needed
Databases and reports of others
Surveys
Focus groups
Community forums
Interviews

33. Organize Data by Type and Source
Housing
Published Statistics
Survey Information
Focus Groups or Interview Information
Community Forum Responses
What?
Who Has it?
What Group?
Who has it?
Education
Published Statistics
Survey Information
Focus Groups or Interview Information
Community Forum Responses
What?
Who Has it?
What Group?
Who has it?
Then take each type of needed data and determine the details of what you need within it, where you will get it, or who your target audience will be.

34. Create a Timeline and Assign Responsibility
Review budget and establish timelines
Define CAA staff and/or consultant roles
Recruit partners and participants
Choose and finalize data tools

35. Example
Here is a basic timeline from the Missouri toolkit regarding how long the needs assessment process can take. Of course, this varies based on the requirements of each state and can be modified to fit other timeframes.

36. TDHCA – CSBG Community Needs Assessment – Page 3 – Rev. 04/06/2015
Example #
Timeline
Sample Dates
Activity 1
3 weeks
March 16th – 31st
Planning and developing forms 2
4 weeks
April 1st – April 30th
Collecting Data 3
May 1st - May 22th
Analyzing Data 4
2 weeks
May 23rd - June 30th
Preparing Report
Total
15 Weeks
March 16th – June 30th
Here is another example from Texas that breaks it down slightly differently.
TDHCA – CSBG Community Needs Assessment – Page 3 – Rev. 04/06/2015

37. Other Tips in Data Planning
Use a three year time frame if possible to allow for identification of trends
Sequence the data collection to start with quantitative methods
Pair data collection methods with types of stakeholders and data collection needs (e.g. surveys for customers; key informant interviews for partners)
Sequence quantitative and qualitative methods (e.g. follow up surveys with focus groups)
Consider connections to the strategic planning process

38. Quantitative (Quantity – confirms) Numerical/Statistical Demographic
Economic
Social
Can be time consuming...
Solution?
Web Based Data Tool
Comprehensive tool to collect secondary data
Provide comprehensive data in one location
Trustworthy source
Frees up time to focus on primary data and assets
State & National Tools
University of Missouri – CARES & IP3
Now we’re moving into talking about the actual collection of data. Quantitative data confirms. So, we’re looking at statistics across areas of demographics, economics, and social trends. This can be very time consuming. There are a lot of great data sources out there, but deciding which ones to use and pulling the information you need and compiling it can be a headache. Our solution to this has been a web-based data tool. We created this tool in 2009 to help our agencies save time and gather the comprehensive data in one location. All data sets used are trustworthy sources, such as census data and other valid, reliable data sets. This was created in partnership with the CSBG office in Missouri as the primary funder. In order to create the tool, we contracted with the University of Missouri, which houses the Center for Applied Research and Environmental Systems and the Institute for People, Place, and Possibility – who do all the background work and set up for the tool. Since then, we have assisted Pennsylvania, New York, and the Community Action Partnership in creating their web tools. These can be state-specific or on a national level like the community action partnership’s tool.

39. Web-Based Tool

40. Web-Based Tool CAP Hub Indicators = 39 National level data sources
What’s in it?
CAP Hub
Indicators = 39
National level data sources
(i.e. US Census Bureau Decennial Census, American Community Survey, US Dept of Labor, etc)
Well, the tools are quite similar in structure and in data categories. But, just to point out our reasoning behind continuing with a state specific tool – here are a few differences. You can see that the number of indicators is the biggest factor in how a state specific tool is so beneficial. Our MACA Hub contains almost double the amount of indicators that the national tool holds because we were able to tailor it to the needs of the agencies in Missouri and include state-specific data from sources like the Missouri Highway Patroll, Missouri Dept of Mental Health, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, etc.

41. Data can show the positive

42. …and the negative… to help prioritize

43. Qualitative External Internal (Quality – explores)
Narrative, themes, perceptions
Available community resources
At-risk or threatened resources
Unmet community needs
Current barriers to accessing services
External
Key Informant Interviews
Community Forums
Focus Groups
Surveys
Internal
Agency Capacity
So, you’ve collected your statistical data and used that to confirm. Now, you collect qualitative data to explore. This is going to include narrative, themes, perceptions... As well as available community resources, threatened resources, unmet community needs and current barriers that clients might have to accessing services.
Qualitative data can be looked at in two categories – external and internal. External includes..... Internal includes.... And we’ll briefly cover both.

44. Qualitative - External
Community Forums
Surveys
Focus Groups
Key Informant Interviews
Many of you have probably heard of all these external qualitative data sources... So these are ways you can collect data from clients and the community directly. I won’t go through each in detail, but this progression that is shown is often the best, because each can feed into and inform the next. Community forums are best done with large groups of people to gather broad topics to include in surveys. Then the surveys can highlight topics that you may need to drill down even deeper on with a small group of about to explore specific needs in the community. Key informant interviews can further help you narrow down with those closest to the issues, helping guide the way to prioritization.

45. Re-Engage the Board Review the scope Review the data collection plan
Roles the board will play in data collection and review
Budget approval
Outreach to key stakeholders and partners
Outreach to media and broader community
This is a good point to re-engage the board with your plan

46. CNA Webinar Series November 9, 2pm ET: Collecting CNA Data (Register)
Analyzing CNA Data  (Register)
November 20, 2pm ET:  
Communicating the CNA (Register)
Register at:
Events Tab > Webinars

47. Questions

48. Requirements and Roles Resources
Technical Assistance Guide Organizational Standards Category 3
This toolkit, created by the Partnership’s Organizational Standards Center of Excellence walks through the documentation required for each of the Standards related to Needs Assessments.
 A Community Action Guide to Comprehensive Community Needs Assessments
The toolkit, written by the National Association for State Community Services Programs (NASCSP) in July 2011 walks through the assessment process at large with specific information for this standard starting on page 32.
Community Needs Assessment Guide and TDHCA Submission Requirements
This toolkit from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs provides survey, focus group, and interview templates in addition to larger guidance on the assessment process.
Community Needs Assessment Tool Kit
This toolkit, written by the Missouri Association for Community Action and Missouri State CSBG Office in April 2009 walks through the assessment process with specific information for this standard “Statistical Data,” “Agency Gathered Data” and “Conditions of Poverty and Issue Areas” on pages 7-30.

49. Contact Information
Dr. Jarle Crocker | PhD, CCAP, NCRT
Director of T/TA
Courtney Kohler | MPA, CCAP, NCRT
Senior Associate, T/TA
This presentation was created by the National Association of Community Action Agencies – Community Action Partnership, in the performance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services Grant Number, 90ET0465. Any opinion, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.