The task of assessing community needs is a much larger one than you might think at first. It’s also an extremely important one. When you’re assessing community needs, you’re making sure that your community has enough resources to ensure a comfortable way of life for all of its residents. Not sure how to assess community needs properly? Here are a few tips.
The first thing you’ll need to do is assess the scope of your project. Are you assessing a single need or a group of needs? This is essential information to gather before you actually start your community needs assessment process. Framing your problem will allow you to collect data in a manner that is efficient, precise, and helpful to your overall goals of meeting your community’s needs.
The next thing you’ll need to do is start gathering data. This data can come from a number of different places. A few key places you’ll want to gather data from include federal statistics, community level indicators, and community member experiences. Some data can only be gathered through interviews, forums, and meetings with community members. Make sure you remember this as you move forward with your assessment.
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