A Community Needs

Assessment Guide
A Brief Guide on How to Conduct a
Needs Assessment

Prepared by
Aparna Sharma B.S, Mindy Lanum B.S., and Yolanda
Suarez-Balcazar Ph.D
Center for Urban Research and Learning and the Department of Psychology
Loyola University Chicago
September 2000
 Acknowledgments

There are many individuals who contributed to the development of

this needs assessment guide. We would like to thank the staff at Youth
Service Project Inc. and the residents of Humboldt Park who collaborated
with the Loyola BP research team to conduct a needs assessment of their
community. From the Loyola BP research team, we would like to thank
Lucia Orellana-Damacela, Nelson Portillo, Sean Hill, Adam Carrico, Emily
Keeker, and Leah Kinney. We are also very grateful to Freddy Calixto,
Michelle Williams, Grace Hou, and Robert Houston, our BP Community
Fellows for their time and valued feedback on this guide.
 Table of Contents

What is a Community Needs Assessment? 1

I. The Planning and Organizing Phase 2

A. Information gathering 2
B. Learn about the organization and the program 3
C. Identify goals and objectives for the needs assessment 3

II. The Needs Assessment Methodology 4

A. Getting Ready 4
B. Developing a Needs Assessment Survey 5
C. Creating a Needs Assessment Survey 8

III. The Needs Assessment Survey Data Collection 10

A. Obtaining a representation of your community 10

B. Providing incentives 11
C. Flyers advertising the public forums 12
D. Getting ready to conduct the surveys 12
E. Administering the door-to-door survey 13

IV. Summarizing and Disseminating the Needs Assessment

Survey Results 14

A. Summarizing the data 14

B. The public forums 14

V. Writing the Final Report 17

Appendices 18
 A Community Needs Assessment Guide
What is a Community Needs Assessment?
The goal of a needs assessment is to identify the assets of a community and determine
potential concerns that it faces. A straightforward way to estimate the needs of a community is to
simply ask residents their opinions about the development of services within the community, their
satisfaction with services, and what particular services are needed. Their opinions can be used in
building an agenda aimed at community change that can build the capacity of community-based
organizations that are designed to provide its resident’s services and development opportunities.
The following is a brief guide on how to conduct a needs assessment for your own organization in
partnership with an academic unit or other organizations. This guide is an adaptation of the
Concerns Report Method developed by Fawcett, Suarez, Johnson, Whang-Ramos, Seekins, and
Bradford (1987) and Suarez, Balcazar, and Keys (1999) “Self help guide: Community needs
assessment and action planning”.

How to Conduct a Community Needs Assessment

The following is a “how to” guide that briefly details the steps of the Concerns Report
Method beginning with the planning phases and ending with implementation of action
committees and the utilization of findings from the needs assessment. Ideally, a needs assessment
is done in collaboration with local community-based organizations, advocacy groups and/or a
university unit. This needs assessment guide is intended to facilitate the work of community
leaders, agency staff, and university practitioners in identifying the concerns and strengths of a
community and to develop initiatives to address the needs brought forth by the assessment
process. The needs assessment methodology is divided into four phases that were adapted from
Fawcett et al (1987); Balcazar, Keys, Kaplan, and Suarez-Balcazar (1998); and Suarez-Balcazar
and Orellana (1999). The needs assessment process begins with the planning and organizing
phase, data collection, summarizing and disseminating the needs assessment survey results, and
sharing the results through public forums to facilitate action planning. The adaptation below is a
template that has been used for a variety of community topics. Adaptations of the method have
been conducted to address health issues (Fawcett et al) and disability issues (Suarez, Balcazar,
and Keys, 1999).

1
 I. The Planning and Organizing Phase
The planning phase begins with establishing a partnership between those
organizations that are likely to be involved in the needs assessment. During this first
phase, partners who are working together should have the opportunity to get to know
each other and develop specific goals and objectives for the needs assessment process.
The first step in this process is information gathering and is followed by learning more
about the organization sponsoring the needs assessment and identification of goals and
objectives. The steps outlined below form the planning and organizing phase of a needs
assessment. These steps need to be completed prior to moving on to the next phase.

A. Information gathering

Get to know your Needs Assessment Committee

Have several introductory meetings between organization staff and other partners
(e.g. grassroots groups or university researchers).
During these meetings…!
♦ Identify the relevant stakeholders. This includes stakeholders of the program being
assessed, the program staff, the funders, and the consumers of the program.
♦ Learn more about the community the organization serves and its residents.
♦ Review already existing material developed by the program staff and look at any
archival information pertaining to the development or history of the program.
♦ Share your expectations and approach regarding the needs assessment with the other
partners.
♦ Discuss and identify potential users of the agenda likely to be generated by the needs
assessment process.

2
B. Learn about the organization and the program that is being
assessed
Partners outside the sponsoring agency need to:

!Learn about the organizational culture and its philosophy by interviewing staff, including
!!the executive director, review any existing material, touring the community and learning
!!more about the target population that the organization serves.
!Conduct a literature review to see what the recent research has to offer (e.g.
!!methodology), review relevant archival information and what previous needs
assessments by the organization have found?
!Where is the program in terms of implementation and development of service delivery?
!What current resources do the organization and its programs offer?
!Identify and learn about the program that would most benefit from a needs assessment.

C. Identify goals and objectives for the needs assessment

!Identify your strategy: In this case, our strategy is to conduct a needs

assessment of a community
!Define goals for the needs assessment
!Discuss roles and expectations for each partner
!What is the specific purpose of the needs assessment? How will the data be
used; to set a new agenda, support a new program, or support new changes in
service delivery or policies
!What is the timeline for the needs assessment?
!Identify the target population, how will a sample from the population be
chosen?

3
 II. The Needs Assessment Methodology
This will help your committee identify what needs to be done to collect the data.
A. Getting Ready
!Identify the participants whom you want to survey.
!Identify your needs assessment strategy.
!Determine the types of measures that you will use to collect your information –
this will include using focus groups, developing and using a needs assessment
survey, and information gathered at community public forums.
!How will the data be collected? For example, door-to-door surveys are often used
!!in needs assessments
!How will the information be analyzed?
!How will the information be summarized and presented in a final report?

• It is necessary that all of the information above be incorporated into the “selecting
methodology phase” meetings in order to insure that you have a strong foundation
to support the needs assessment findings.

• Before developing a needs assessment survey to administer to community

residents, you need to address some key preliminary issues.

♦ You must define the population you are targeting so that you can determine
whom the needs assessment will be focused on (e.g. community residents,
small business owners, teachers within a certain school district, or all people
within certain geographic boundaries).

♦ The current resources within the community should also be acknowledged.

The needs assessment should not just focus on the concerns or weaknesses of
the community but should also recognize the strengths and existing resources
of a community. This can be done in the next several phases by allowing
community members to voice their opinions on the strengths of their
community and this can be subsequently included as items in the needs
assessment survey. In addition, community strengths can also be used in the
needs assessment process (e.g. grassroots organizations could assist with dat
collection or sponsor a public forum.

4
B. Developing a Needs Assessment Survey
Several needs assessment strategies have been suggested in the literature.
The model adapted from the Concerns Report Method involves qualitative
and quantitative components and includes the following phases: The use of
focus groups, creating a needs assessment survey, collecting and analyzing
data, community public forums, writing the final report and planning action
committees. The focus of this methodology is to create an agenda based on
the perceived needs and concerns of community residents

There are several phases when developing a needs assessment survey that must be
followed in order to accurately represent the concerns and strengths of a community.
These include organizing a focus group and developing a needs assessment survey.

1. The Focus Groups

Using small informal groups to discuss and reflect on issues surrounding their community
is a way to start compiling a list of issues that will be included on the needs assessment
survey.
• The focus group consists of people who share a common situation to some
degree. For instance, you may want to organize a focus group in which
the participants are similar to each other (e.g. a youth-only focus group)
since the primary goal of the discussion is to allow a free flowing
exchange of ideas and opinions. If there appears to be a great difference
between members within a focus group discussion, the participants may
become intimidated and limit their input. We suggest holding a few focus
groups; one with community leaders, this includes local politicians,
business owners, block club leaders and community activists; another
focus group would consist of the adult residents of the community; and the
other consisting of youth residents of the community.

5
2. How to Prepare for a Focus Group

!Prepare an invitation list for each focus group, including their name,
phone number, and address. There should be no more than 8-10 people for
each focus group.
!Set up a date, time (usually 2 hours), and location for the focus group.
!Call each potential participant and personally request him/her to attend the
focus group. Briefly describe the purpose of the focus group and let them
know that refreshments will be served.
!Choose your facilitator, this person will lead the discussion. We
recommend choosing someone from the partnership who can be regarded
as an “outsider” so that the participants don’t feel threatened by an agency
presence (e.g. a university partner).
!Arrange for someone who can take notes and be in charge of audio-taping
the discussion.
!Make food arrangements for the focus group sessions.
!Send out a flyer/invitation to each invitee along with a brief explanation of
the purpose of the focus group and the needs assessment.
!Reminder phone calls need to be made the evening prior to the focus
group.
!When focus group members arrive, have them sign in and put a name-tag
on. Allow 15 minutes for participants to introduce themselves and mingle.

A Few Reminders
For the facilitators of the focus groups, it is a good idea to have a list of issues
that are important to the agency staff to make sure that important topics are
discussed within these focus groups. These areas should reflect themes of
interest to the agency such as; safety at schools, access and affordability of
medical services, housing, transportation, city work, business opportunities,
activities for youth, and other service agencies. These are determined in part,
by the focus or goal of the needs assessment.

Once the focus group participants have settled down…

• Introduce yourself as the facilitator
• Have the participants introduce themselves
• Briefly describe the needs assessment process, why it’s being done, and
the role of the focus groups. Also let them know that you will be tape
recording the discussion and that their opinions will be kept confidential.
If anyone has any problems with you tape-recording the proceedings, they
should let you know right away.
• Answer any questions from the participants
!
!
!

6
3. Conducting the focus group
When the focus of the needs assessment is to identify community strengths
and concerns, we recommend the following questions to guide the
discussion:

• What do you think are some of the strengths of this community? With what
aspects of your community are you satisfied? Be careful to keep the discussion
on track. You will find that some of the participants want to immediately talk
about their concerns.

• What do you think are some of the concerns of this community? You
might want use the checklist to make sure that some important topics are
covered (e.g. health, education, safety). If towards the end of this part of the
discussion, no one has brought up a certain topic, introduce it into the discussion.

• What do you value about your community? What aspects of your

community do you consider important? This is asking the participants what
makes them proud of their community (this isn’t necessarily the same as a
strength of a community but what the individuals value for themselves and their
families).

For the Facilitator…

Here are some important points to remember…
!Although you are leading the discussion, stay in the background and let the
!!participants have their say
!Be sure that the group stays on topic
!Don’t let one person dominate the discussion, encourage those who haven’t talked to
express their opinions
!One way to show the group that you are listening is to paraphrase what they are
saying and ask them to confirm if it is accurate
!Be sure to note down the focus group details: time, place, location, number of
!!attendees etc.

7
 4. Ending the Focus Group
♦ Before ending the focus group, the facilitator should do a quick summary of what was
discussed and highlight some of the main points.

!End the discussion by thanking everyone for participating and letting them know
what the next step will be (developing the survey). If they want more information on
how they could help, direct them to the program manager.
!We recommend sending a thank you card to all of the participants as a gesture of your
appreciation and letting them know how to contact the agency if they want to
continue helping in this process. This is a good way of getting some volunteers to
help with the upcoming data collection.
!Announce when the survey will be ready and recruit their help if residents express
interest in helping with the data collection and also invite them to upcoming the
public forum.

5. After the Focus Group

After the focus groups are complete, compile all of the answers to each of the three
questions in a list. When compiling these answers, they should be categorized into
different areas or dimensions that were part of the discussion (e.g. transportation,
daycare, health services). This represents the beginnings of your needs assessment
survey. Present these items to your needs assessment partnership and start discussing
how these will be incorporated into the survey. Have service providers, staff, board
members and relevant partners review the list and add items if appropriate.

C. Creating the Needs Assessment Survey

Items on the survey are based on information provided in the several focus groups and is
also adapted from several other community needs assessment surveys. The survey
consists of 3 parts; a 30-35 item questionnaire, several open-ended questions regarding
concerns and strengths of the community, and a demographics page. We recommend that
agencies adapt this survey to fit their needs (See Appendix A for a copy of a needs
assessment survey). If there are any other relevant questions regarding the agencies own
services, they can be adapted into this survey.

8
 1. When Developing a Survey
!♦ Have members of the needs assessment partnership check each item for
! accuracy and completeness
!
!♦ Have various stakeholders check the wording of the items. Is it user-friendly?
! Is it clear and simple? This includes pilot testing the survey with a few
! participants.
!♦ Make sure all key areas are covered (e.g. education, health, safety, housing
! etc.)
!♦ Make sure that you have accurate translations of the survey when needed
!!(see Appendix B for Spanish version)
!♦ Check the list of items yielded from the focus groups.
!♦ Write affirmative simple statements.
!♦ Make sure each item is asking only one question.
!♦ Delete repeated items that are worded differently
!♦ The demographics page is placed at the end of the survey and it provides a
!
descriptive profile of the individual respondents.
!
!
We also included several open-ended questions within the survey. This qualitative
component allows the respondent to voice their opinion and to add what they feel is
important in their community. These questions could include:
1. What are 3 things you like most about living in your community?
2. What are 3 things you would like to improve about your community?
3. What is an effective way to get residents involved in their community?
!
The survey consists of items that have 2 corresponding questions. Once question asks
about that person’s opinion on the importance of that issue and the other asks about
the person’s satisfaction regarding the community’s efforts to address the issue (taken
from Fawcett et al.). When respondents are asked to rate the satisfaction and
importance for each item, the strengths and concerns of the community can be
identified. The items that are rated high in importance and low in satisfaction
represent a concern in the community. Items that are rated high in importance and
high in satisfaction indicate a strength in the community.

For example
How important is this How satisfied
To you… are you with…
Availability of good grocery stores 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Availability of affordable daycare centers 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
The above scale is:
Please circle the appropriate score using the following scale:
1 = completely unimportant 1 = completely unsatisfied
2 = unimportant 2 = unsatisfied
3 = important 3 = satisfied
4 = very important 4 = very satisfied

9
 III. Needs Assessment Survey Data Collection
Once you have developed your needs assessment survey, you can now begin data
collection!

• There are several important aspects of data collection besides administering a

door-to-door survey that need to be considered. A needs assessment survey of
this nature could be distributed in several ways. This includes mailing the survey
to a random sample or mailing to all of the relevant population (everyone on a
mailing list).
• Although different ways of data collection have been used in needs assessment,
our experience has been that ethnic communities (e.g. Hispanic and African
American residents) tend to respond better to the door-to-door method rather than
a mailed survey.

Prior to data collection, you need to…

!Select the geographical areas to be surveyed
!Decide if you will use an incentive to give to people if they complete the survey
!Decide on community public forum dates (usually 2) where the residents can discuss
! the findings. Confirm the location, date, time, and place and make a flyer to hand out
while you are collecting data
!Put together the data-collection kits
!Set aside time prior to data collection to have a training session for your data
!!collectors on the appropriate and safe way to collect data

A. Obtaining a representation of your community

If the survey is relevant to all community residents then the community should be
randomly sampled in order to obtain a true representation of the community. This
requires obtaining a map of the community and highlighting all of the blocks that fall
into the geographic boundaries that were set in the preliminary planning meetings.
Choose how many blocks you wish to sample, for example if there are 10 data-
collecting pairs and each pair is responsible for 4 blocks, then you will randomly
choose 40 blocks. Continuing with this example, equally divide your highlighted
map into 10 areas (approximately equal is fine) and number the individual blocks
within each of the 10 areas. For example, if each of the 10 areas consists of 40
blocks, then label each block from 1 to 40 and also number 40 pieces of paper from 1
to 40 and place them in a container. Randomly choose 4 pieces of paper for each of
the 10 areas. The first three numbers you choose are the blocks that will be surveyed
and the fourth represents an alternate block that can be surveyed if time permits.
Make sure to exclude blocks that only have schools, parks or industrial sites as they
often take up an entire block (these are often indicated on the map).
!
!
!

10
• For door-to-door data collection, we suggest forming dyads with staff from the
sponsoring agency or people from the community with the staff from other partners
(e.g. students, community fellows).
• You will instruct all of your data collecting dyads that once they start on one
corner of the block (e.g. the south-west corner), they should count two houses and
knock on the third house and to continue this pattern until they finish the block.

Double – check…
!Before you begin to randomly select the blocks to be surveyed, meet with the
needs assessment partnership, particularly those who know the area very well and
block off any area that might be considered extremely dangerous (i.e. would put
the data collectors at extreme risk) such areas that have as high gang activity or
violence.
!After randomly selecting the blocks using the above method, double check with
agency staff if the areas to be surveyed are relatively safe.
!As a fail-safe, we recommend that you double-check your surveyed areas with an
outside source preferably someone from the community. For example, contact
another local agency and have someone look over your map

B. Providing incentives
We recommend that as a gesture of your appreciation for completing a survey that you
offer the potential respondents something that could also act as an incentive to
participate. For example, you could provide $5 or $10 dollar gift certificates to a local
grocery store or video store. This would be one way of helping a fellow community
member and would reinforce the importance of small businesses within the community.
If resources are not available for an incentive, you could offer the residents a chance to
enter a $20.00 raffle.

11
 C. Flyers advertising the public forum
As will be discussed later, the public forums are held so community residents can
discuss the findings of the needs assessment survey. It is important that you give
survey respondents the information pertaining to the public forum when they are doing
the survey so that they know you fully intend to bring the findings back into the
community. Prior to data collection date confirm the location (e.g. local church or
library), date, and time in order to make the flyers that will be handed out while
collecting data.

D. Getting ready to collect surveys

• Provide a training session on how to administer a door-to-door survey, how to be

safe, and answer any questions. Go through the survey a few times to make sure it
will be administered in a consistent manner. It is best to provide this training right
before the data collection (See Appendix C for training session agenda).
• Organize the data-collecting volunteers into dyads. One person from the university
side and one person from the agency or the community. This allows for a safer entry
into the community.
• If you are working in a strong bilingual community, we recommend that at least one
of the people in each dyad speak another language (e.g. Spanish).
• Instruct the dyads to conduct the survey outside of the resident’s home (e.g. the
porch).
• Data collection dates and times should be selected based on when residents are more
likely to be home. For example, in the urban community that we surveyed, we
collected data on a Saturday morning after 10:00 am.

12
 1. Data Collection Kit
Here is a list of what you should include in your data-collection kit for each dyad
! !Envelope #1: Taped to a large envelope is a map with the dyad’s 3 blocks to be
surveyed and the alternate fourth block highlighted in a different color. On the
map, you should include emergency contact numbers (e.g. agency number, cell
phone numbers etc.) In the envelope are all of the blank surveys, several pens, a
back-up copy of the map with the dyad’s four blocks highlighted
! !Envelope #2: Taped to the large envelope is a sign-in sheet that the respondent
must sign as proof that they have received the incentive for completing the
survey. In the envelope, agency paraphernalia (e.g. brochures, pens, stickers etc.),
the flyers advertising the upcoming public forums, and the incentive (e.g. usually
a $5 –$10 gift certificate).
! !Clipboard: containing a tracking sheet to keep track of the houses that have been
visited (See Appendix E for example).

E. Administering the Door-to-Door Survey

!Clearly read each item of the survey and repeat what the scale represents (e.g.
important, not important etc.) as many times as necessary.
!Read the survey in such a way that both the data-collector and the respondent can
see the survey and so that the respondent can correct any misunderstandings as
the data-collector fills in his/her responses.
!When writing down the answers to the open-ended questions, do not paraphrase
what the respondent is saying but write down the exact words
!Once the survey is complete, hand the respondent information on the agency and
the upcoming public forum and give them their “thank-you” gift. Have them sign
a sheet of paper saying that they received the thank-you gift.

13
 IV. Summarizing and Disseminating the Needs Assessment
Survey Results
!
A. Summarizing the Data
To compute the results of the survey, you will likely have to use a computer database
or computer-analysis program such as ACCESS or SPSS. For this particular survey
design we are comparing importance and satisfaction of each item. By using a
program like SPSS, we can calculate cross-tabulations to see what percentage of
respondents fit into the four possible categories with respect to the survey items. Of
the four possible combinations of survey responses, the two that should be your focus
are:
1) Items ranked as important/very important and unsatisfied/very unsatisfied
(a concern)
2) Items ranked as important/very important and satisfied/very satisfied (a strength)
• See Appendix H for instructions on how to calculate these cross-tabulations

The next step in summarizing the data is to prepare a one page summary of the main
strengths and concerns identified by the survey respondents. This usually is in the
form a “top five” list of concerns and strengths. This one page summary will be what
you may present to the needs assessment committee as the main findings and it will
also be part of the agenda for the public forum.

B. The Public Forums

The public forum, unlike the focus groups is open to anyone who is interested in
attending. The purposes for the public forums are to: (a) discuss the major issues
brought forth by the respondents in needs assessment survey and (b) provide public
forum participants the opportunity to discuss possible solutions to the issues of concern.

14
 1. Planning the Public Forum
!Find a location, such as public library or a local church that is accessible and
! centrally located in the community.
!Reserve the location for 2 dates for at least 3 hours each (usually in the evening)
!Arrange for child care services or interpreter services as needed.
!Prepare a public forum flyer to be distributed during data collection, via mailing
! lists etc.
!Try to contact as many people as possible via telephone, especially those who
participated in the focus groups or in the data collection.
!Advertise the public forums on community bulletin boards, other agencies,
churches, local newspapers and radio stations.
!Make food arrangements.

2. Resources Needed for the Public Forum

2. Resources Needed for the Public Forum
!A summary sheet for the participants outlining the major issues
brought up in the survey (See Appendix I for example).
!Overhead projector, blank transparencies, and markers
!Copies of the survey
!Name tags and a sign in sheet
!Poster paper and markers to record suggestions made by participants
!Refreshments

15
 3. Conducting the Public Forum
!Registration and Refreshments
!Introductions: Call the group to order and introduce the facilitators and other
members of the needs assessment committee present. Describe the purpose of
the public forum and phases already completed.
!Present a summary of the results: This is usually in the form of the top 5
strengths and concerns of the community
!Discuss the strengths of the community and how to reinforce them –write
down ideas on the poster paper
!Discuss the dimensions of concerns of the community and possible solutions –
write down the ideas on the poster paper
!If the group is large enough, you can break up into several sub-groups and
tackle individual areas – its dimensions and possible alternative solutions.
Once they have completed the group discussions, the participants should come
back into the large group and discuss the solutions to the problems they
discussed.
!Let the group know what the next step will be. The agency will take their ideas
and start to plan to implement or further discuss the solutions.
♦ Wrap-up by thanking all of the participants and volunteers. If possible, you can
also thank your participants by holding a raffle for a door prize or sending them a
thank you card.

4. How to get a discussion started…

Here are some questions that you can ask your group.
1. Why does this issue represent a problem?
2. How are you as an individual affected by this problem?
3. What can be done to address this problem?
4. What have other communities done to deal with this problem?

16
 V. Writing the Final Report

An overall report of the needs assessment findings is necessary in order to provide

written proof that an assessment was carried out and the report can serve to answer any
questions regarding the process or findings if the needs assessment.
Here is an example of what a final report looks like

A. Report Outline
!Executive Summary: This is a short version of the overall report that includes the
purpose of the needs assessment, a very brief description of what each phase
involved, the results, and the conclusions (1 page).
!Chronology of Events: From the beginning meetings to the development of the
final report (1 page).
!Brief Agency History (1 page)
!Description of Current Study: This page details the purpose and steps involved (1
page).
!Participant Profile: This page includes graphs and tables describing the sample
that you surveyed (e.g. gender, ethnicity, level of education, age, number of years
living in the community)
!Brief Report: List the top 5-10 concerns and strengths identified by residents in
the survey (1 page)
!Open-Ended Survey Responses: If any qualitative questions were included in the
survey, you can include a sample of responses on this page
!Community Forum Discussion: This is a summary of issues discussed at the
public forums. This section can be divided into the separate issues discussed.
! For example: A. Issue: Community Safety
Dimension of the Issue: What participants had to say about
the issue
Suggestions for Action: Participant suggestions on how to
realistically deal with issue
!Recommendations: These recommendations need to be feasible and realistic
because any recommendations that require major programmatic changes will
often be dismissed by the stakeholders.

B. Once the report is completed we recommend:

• Conduct planning sessions with all interested partners to discuss the needs assessment
process and results
• Disseminate the report to all who could benefit or might address the issues discussed
such as an advisory board, block clubs, CAPS and other grassroots organizations
• Provide assistance in planning and action-taking

17
Appendices

18
 Appendix A
Community Needs Survey
English Version

Instructions: I am going to read some Please circle the appropriate score using the
statements to you. I would like you to tell me following scale:
two things about the statement: how important it 1=completely unimportant 1=completely unsatisfied
is to you that the following services are in your 2=unimportant 2=unsatisfied
community, and how satisfied you are with each 3= important 3=satisfied
4=very important 4=very satisfied
service in Humboldt Park.
How important is How satisfied
This to you … are you with …

1. Availability of good grocery stores 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

2. Availability of affordable daycare centers 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

3. Quality of daycare centers 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

4. Affordability of prescription drugs 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

5. Quality of teaching at schools 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

6. Safety at schools 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

7. Affordability of medical services 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

8. Well lit streets 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

9. Response time of police to emergency calls 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

10. Timely garbage collection 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

11. Availability of parks and recreation

facilities 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

12. Availability of employment opportunities

for adults 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

13. Availability of adequate transportation 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

14. Opportunity for you and your family to

improve and make decisions that affect the
community (councils,CAPS) 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

15. Availability of supervised after school youth

activities (educational, cultural, recreational) 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

16. Availability of youth employment

opportunities 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

17. Opportunity to participate in religious

activities at local churches 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

19
 How important is How satisfied
18. The city’s response to sanitation This to you … are you with …
complaints (Pests i.e. rats, raccoons and
trash) 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

19. Access to affordable housing 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

20. Access to quality housing 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

21. Access to information about city and county

resources available to Humboldt Park residents 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

22. The Block Club Federations activities 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

23. The information given out by CAPS to

community residents 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

24. The effectiveness of the CAPS meetings in

your neighborhood 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

25. The assistance provided by CAPS in dealing

with drug and gang activity 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

26. The use of speed bumps to reduce speeding

cars (streets and/or alleys) 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

27. Neighbors taking care of the appearance of

their homes 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

28. Availability of small businesses in the

community 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

29. Opportunities available to open small

businesses in the community 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

30. Availability of agencies providing services

to adults 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

31. Availability of agencies providing services

specific to youth 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Instructions: Please answer the following

questions with YES/NO.

1. Have you heard of YSP Universal Record Store? YES NO

2. Have you purchased anything from Universal

Record Store? YES NO

3. Did you attend the Grand Opening of Universal

Record store? YES NO

20
 Appendix B
Community Needs Survey
Spanish Version
Instrucciones: le voy a leer algunas frases. Por favor, circule el número apropriado usando
Me gustaría que me diga dos cosas acerca de la siguiente escala:
cada frase: qué tan importante es para usted 1=completamente 1=completamente
que hayan estos servicios en su comunidad, y sin importancia insatisfecho(a)
qué tan satisfecho(a) está usted con cada uno 2=sin importancia 2=insatisfecho(a)
3=importante 3=satisfecho(a)
de esos servicios en Humboldt Park.
4=muy importante 4=muy satisfecho(a)
Qué tan importante Qué tan satisfecho(a)
Es esto para usted … está usted …
1. Facilidad de acceso a buenos supermercados 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

2. Facilidad de acceso a centros de cuidado 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

infantil a precios razonables

3. Calidad de los centros de cuido infantil 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

4. Acceso a medicinas a precios razonables 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

5. Calidad de la enseñanza en las escuelas 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

6. Seguridad en las escuelas 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

7. Servicios médicos a precios razonables 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

8. Suficiente alumbramiento en las calles 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

9. Tiempo que la policía tarda en responder a

llamadas de emergencia 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

10. La basura es recogida a tiempo 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

11. Facilidad de acceso a parques y areas de

recreación 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

12. Existencia de oportunidades de empleo para

adultos 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

13. Existencia de buena transportación pública 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

14. Oportunidades para usted y su familia de

participar en decisiones para mejorar su 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
comunidad

15. Existencia de actividades supervisadas para 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

jóvenes después de la escuela (educativas,
culturales, recreativas)

16. Hay oportunidades de empleo para jóvenes 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

21
 Qué tan importante Qué tan satisfecho(a)
Es esto para usted … está usted …

17. Hay oportunidades para participar en 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

actividades religiosas en las iglesias de la
comunidad

18. La respuesta de la ciudad a denuncias de 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

sanidad (ratas, raccoons, recolección de basura)

19. Acceso a casas a precios razonables 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

20. Acceso a casas de buena calidad 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

21. Acceso a información acerca de recursos en

la ciudad y coundado que están disponsibles 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
para los residentes de Humboldt Park

22. Las actividades del federacion de cuadras 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

23. La información que CAPS proporciona a

los residentes de la comunidad 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

24. La efectividad de las reuniones de CAPS en

su barrio 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

25. La ayuda de CAPS para combatir

actividades de drogas y pandillas en la 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
comunidad

26. El uso de topes de velocidad para reducir la 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

velocidad de los carros en las calles y
callejones

27. El cuidado que tienen los vecinos por 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

mantener la buena apariencia de sus casas

28. La existencia de pequeños negocios en la 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

comunidad

29. Las oportunidades que hay para abrir 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

pequeños negocios en la comunidad

30. La existencia de agencias que proveen 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

servicios para adultos en la comunidad

31. La existencia de agencias que proveen 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

servicios para jóvenes en la comunidad

22
 Appendix C
Everything You Wanted to Know About Door-to-Door Surveying
But Were Afraid to Ask
Youth Service Project Data Collection
April 15, 2000
So what’s up for today?
8:30 - 8:45 Have a donut, blueberry bagel and a cup of coffee
8:45 - 9:45 The Professor (Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar) speaks about methodology
9:45 - 10:00 Travel to your surveying destination
10:00 - 1:00 Do some assessing!!!!!
1:00 to ..... Return to homebase for some pizza

What is this needs assessment business?

Youth Service Project currently helps organize block clubs and neighborhood events, which is known as community
organizing. The purpose of this assessment is to help them move towards a community building approach, which
means involving local businesses, schools, churches, etc. in addressing neighborhood issues and concerns.

Your mission if you choose to accept it....

1. In envelope #1 you will find copies of both Spanish and English surveys (5 of each).
2. In envelope #2 you will find gift certificates, YSP pamphlets and flyers to give to each participating household.
3. You will be given 7 record store gift certificates. One for each participating household.
4. You will be given a file folder to keep consent forms in, separate from the survey envelope.

The how-to of your mission....

1. You will be assigned to a dyad for entry into the community. Each dyad will receive the above supplies for their
area.
2. You will be given a map of your area, with the blocks to be assessed marked with diagonal lines. There are 3
blocks in the same color, these are your primary blocks. You will also see a 4th block in a different color, this is your
alternate block. Your alternate block is to be used if you don’t get all 7 surveys on the first 3 blocks, or if a certain
block is inaccessible for a given reason (see below).
3. You and your partner need to decide which block to start on, once that block is chosen, you need to start at the
southeast corner, knocking on the door of the first house on this corner facing east. To select houses on the remainder
of this block, you need to count 3 houses and knock on the door of the fourth house. Once you have completed
sampling on this block, move to the next block, again starting on the southeast corner and following the above outlined
process.
4. Once a house is selected, quickly assess whether you feel it is safe to approach. If it is, knock on the door and ask
to speak with an adult member of the household (18+).
5. Once the adult comes to the door, greet them and ask if you can have a minute of their time. If they agree read the
consent form, which explains who you are and what you want.
6. If they say no, say thank you and leave.
7. If they agree, ask if there are questions about the consent form and if not have them sign it, and you must sign it as
well. Once this done, remove the consent form and place it in the blue file folder.
8. Then proceed with the survey.
9. After completing the survey, have them sign for the gift certificate, then give them the gift certificate and YSP
information. When giving the flyer make sure and explain that the public forums will be held to discuss the results of
the assessment.
10. Ask if they have any questions, if not say thanks and leave.
11. Once you return to the sidewalk, fill out the tracking sheet specific for that household.

Rules of engagement
1. Trust your instincts, if you don’t have a good feeling about the environment, don’t go.
2. Emergency contact numbers are on the tracking sheets.
3. Remember we want this to be FUN but we also want to collect reliable and useful data.

23
 Appendix D
Good morning,

We are from Youth Service Project and Loyola University Chicago and we would like to invite
you to answer some questions about your community. Your opinion about the assets and
concerns of Humboldt Park is important and that is why we are asking for your help. The
information you give us will be used by Youth Service Project to develop a Community Building
program. A program that will help you address the needs of your community.

If you agree to complete the survey you will receive a $10 gift certificate to Universal Music and
Art Shop. Your participation in this survey is completely voluntary and your answers will be
kept confidential.

It will take about 15 minutes to complete the survey. It is divided into 3 parts. The first section
identifies community issues that may be important to people in Humboldt Park, and we want your
opinion about how important these issues are for you and how satisfied you are with these issues
in your community. The second part of the survey consists of some open-ended questions about
your community and Youth Service Project. Finally, the third section covers important
demographic data that helps us to identify particular characteristics of Humboldt Park.

____________________
Researcher

I, ___________________________________ state that I am over 18 years of age, have read this

form, and am freely and voluntarily willing to participate in this interview

___________________ __________
Signature Date

24
 Appendix D
Buenos días:

Somos de la organización comunitaria Youth Service Project y la Universidad de Loyola.

Queremos invitarle a contestar algunas preguntas acerca de su comunidad. Queremos saber sus
opiniones acerca de cuáles son los aspectos positivos y cuáles son los problemas de Humboldt
Park. Sus opiniones son muy importantes para nosotros. La información que usted nos dé será
usada por Youth Service Project para diseñar un programa de desarrollo de la comunidad. Este
programa ayudará a atender las necesidades de esta comunidad.

Si usted está de acuerdo en completar la entrevista, usted recibirá un certificado de $10.00 para
latienda de musica Universal Music and Art Shop. Su participación en esta entrevista es
completamente voluntaria y sus respuestas serán confidenciales.

Le tomará aproximadamente 15 minutos para completar la entrevista. La entrevista está dividida

en 3 partes. La primera sección identifica asuntos de la comunidad que pueden ser importantes
para las personas en Humboldt Park; nosotros queremos saber su opinion acerca de qué tan
importantes son estos asuntos para usted, y qué tan satisfecho(a) está usted con estos aspectos de
su comunidad. La segunda parte de la entrevista consiste en algunas preguntas acerca de su
comunidad y Youth Service project. Finalmente, la tercera sección tiene preguntas demográficas
que nos ayudarán a identificar las características de Humboldt Park.

Muchas gracias

___________________
Investigador(a)

Yo, ____________________________ declaro que tengo más de 18 años de edad, he leído esta
carta, y he decidido voluntariamente participar en esta entrevista

_______________________________ ___________________________
Firma Fecha

25
 Appendix E

Dyad Number: _____ Loyola Member:

____________________
YSP Member(s): ____________________
____________________
Block Boundaries:
Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Alternative
(N)__________ (N)__________ (N)__________ (N)__________
(E) __________ (E)___________ (E)___________ (E)___________
(S) __________ (S) __________ (S) __________ (S) __________
(W)__________ (W)__________ (W)__________ (W)__________

No Said Contact
Street Address Answer Agreed NO Later Comments

In Case of an emergency, if not serious enough to call 911:

Cellular Phones:

26
 Appendix F

YSP NEEDS ASSESSMENT PUBLIC FORUM

JUNE 8, 2000
AGENDA

1. Welcome the community residents – Lucy

- introduction of YSP and Loyola members
- resident introductions (only if a small group)

2. Purpose of the public forum – Lazaro

- why the needs assessment is being conducted

3. Survey results - Mindy and Aparna

- brief review of assessment process (focus group, survey
development, door-to-door canvassing, and public
forum)
- explain the design of the survey (importance vs.
satisfaction)
- survey results (as seen on forum handout)

4. Discussion of Issues - Yolanda and Lazaro

- examine the dimensions of the issues
- brainstorming ideas/solutions

5. Raffle of 2 Universal Gift Certificates – Mindy and Aparna

6. Thanking the participants – Lucy

- encourage community residents to sign up if interested in
being on a YSP mailing list or being a volunteer

27
 Appendix G
English

1. Overall, how satisfied or unsatisfied are you with your neighborhood as a place to live?

1 = completely unsatisfied
2 = unsatisfied
3 = satisfied
4 = completely satisfied

2. What are the 3 things you like most about your neighborhood?

3. What are 3 things you would like to change/improve about your community?

4. What is an effective way to get residents involved in their community?

28
Demographics
1. Gender: ______ Male _______Female

2. Age: ______ 18-24 _______ 25-40 _______ 41-65 ______ 65+

3. Put an “X” on the line next to your race/ethnicity.

_____ American Indian

_____ Asian
_____ Black
_____ Mexican
_____ Puerto Rican
_____ White
_____ Other: (Please specify: ________________________)

4. Number of adults living in household _____ Number of children living in household_____

5. Highest level of education completed:

______ Some education (grammar school/high school)
______ High School/GED
______ Some College
______ Associate's Degree
______ Bachelor's Degree
______ Graduate/Professional School

6. How many years have you lived in this community? ________

7. Do you own or rent your home? RENT OWN

8. Given the opportunity would you move out of this neighborhood? YES NO

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

29
 Appendix G
Spanish

5. En general, qué tan satisfecho(a) o insatisfecho(a) esta usted con su barrio como un lugar para vivir?

1 = completamente insatisfecho(a)
2 = insatisfecho(a)
3 = satisfecho(a)
4 = completamente satisfecho(a)

6. Cuáles son las 3 cosas que más le gustan de su barrio?

7. Cuáles son las 3 cosas que a usted le gustaría cambiar/mejorar en su comunidad?

8. De qué manera efectiva se puede hacer que los residentes participen más en la comunidad?

30
Información Demográfica

1. Sexo: ______ Hombre _______Mujer

2. Edad: ______ 18-24 _______ 25-40 _______ 41-65 ______ 65+

9. Por favor coloque una “X” cerca a su identificacion ethnica o raza. Es usted:

_____ Indio-Americano
_____ Asiatico
_____ Afro-Americano
_____ Mexicano
_____ Puerto Riqueno
_____ Blanco
_____ Otro: ______________________

5. Número de adultos viviendo en la casa _____ Número de menores viviendo en la casa_____

6. Cual es el nivel de educación más alto que usted ha alcanzado

______ Algo de Secundaria
______ Secundaria/GED
______ Algo de universidad
______ Diploma de estudios de 2 años
______ Diploma universitario (college)
______ Estudios de postgrado

7. Cuántos años ha vivido usted en esta comunidad? ________

8. Usted renta la casa donde vive, o es suya? RENTO DUEÑO(A)

9. Si usted tuviera la oportunidad, se mudaría de este barrio? SI NO

Muchas Gracias!

31
 Appendix H
Calculating Cross-Tabs

To identify the concerns and strengths from the needs assessment data we
used SPSS. The following steps can be used to analyze needs assessment data
which is collected using the important/satisfaction approach discussed in this
guide.
1. Enter data into an SPSS data sheet.

2. Recode the data so that very important and important are represented by the same
number, and very unimportant and unimportant are represented by the same number.
Do the same for the satisfied variables. Recode the data so that very satisfied and
satisfied are represented by the same number and very unsatisfied and unsatisfied are
represented by the same number. This can be done using the RECODE command in
SPSS.

3. For each item cross the important variable with the satisfied variable. Use the
CROSS-TAB command in SPSS to do complete this task. Depending on the number
of items in the survey this can take a significant amount of time.

4. After running the CROSS-TAB command an output window will appear. This
window will contain a box divided into quarters.

Important Unimportant
Satisfied Strength --------------
Unsatisfied Concern --------------

The 2 areas that you will be interested in are the one that is the box where important
and satisfied cross. This box will be how you identify the strengths. The other box
you are interested in is where important and unsatisfied cross. This box represents
the concerns.

5. In each box there will be several percentages, you are interested in the total
percentage in each box. For example, in the strength box, the total percentage
indicates the percent of respondents for that question who ranked the issue as
important and being satisfied.

To identify the strengths and concerns you must determine a cut-off percent. For example, our
cut-off was 50%, so every item that had a total percentage of 50% or greater in the
important/satisfied was considered a strength. Every item that had a total percentage of 50% or
greater in the important/unsatisfied category was considered a potential concern. It is important
that the needs assessment committee adapt this cut-off percent for each specific project.

32
 Appendix I

INTERESTED IN YOUR
COMMUNITY?
Join Us to Discuss the Results of theYouth
Service Project’s Needs Assessment Survey!

Join us for 1 of 2 public forums

WHEN: May 25, 2000 or June 8, 2000

TIME: 6:00 p.m.

PLACE: Maternity Blessed Virgin Mary Church
3647 W. North Ave.
(In between Monticello and Lawndale)

*** Refreshments will be provided ***

33