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Community Assessment

Community assessment is a process that involves evaluating the current situation in a community, identifying what the ideal situation would be, and comparing the actual and desired situations. This allows communities to build on their strengths and address needs. A community assessment identifies the skills and resources of community members and organizations. It is used to create action plans, establish program objectives and strategies, and evaluate progress toward community goals. The assessment process involves defining the scope and purpose of the assessment, collecting and analyzing data, and disseminating findings to empower community members.

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894 views3 pages

Community Assessment

Community assessment is a process that involves evaluating the current situation in a community, identifying what the ideal situation would be, and comparing the actual and desired situations. This allows communities to build on their strengths and address needs. A community assessment identifies the skills and resources of community members and organizations. It is used to create action plans, establish program objectives and strategies, and evaluate progress toward community goals. The assessment process involves defining the scope and purpose of the assessment, collecting and analyzing data, and disseminating findings to empower community members.

Uploaded by

Darcy Hamada
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Community Assessment

Community assessment is the process of identifying the strengths, assets, needs and challenges of a specified
community. Assets refer to the skills, talents and abilities of individuals as well as the resources that local
institutions contribute to the community. Local institutions may include political, religious, educational,
recreational and youth organizations; community, civic and service groups; local businesses; nonprofit
organizations and volunteer groups.

A community assessment involves (1) an evaluation of the current situation in a community, (2) a judgment of
what the preferred or desired situation in that community would be, and (3) a comparison of the actual and
desired situation for the purpose of prioritizing concerns. A community assessment is usually performed early in
the development of a coalition to better understand the community and decide how the coalition might best
address its concerns (Butterfoss, 2007).

Community assessment is sometimes referred to as needs assessment, but there is an important distinction
between the two. In a needs assessment, the focus is limited to discrepancies between what is and what should
be in a given community. This type of assessment forces a community to focus on its deficiencies and ignore
what it is doing well (Kretzmann and McKnight, 1993). In contrast, a community assessment seeks to empower
community members by allowing them to take ownership in affecting the health of their community instead of
providing them with a prescription of what their community needs.

Key Principles of Community Assessment

 Residents are the best experts on the community in which they live.
 All residents have skills, abilities and talents that they can contribute to the community.
 A strong community is built upon the talents and resources of its members.

The Purpose of a Community Assessment

A community assessment can be useful in mobilizing a community to action as it identifies and matches the
skills of community members with the resources of organizations. A community assessment can also be used to
do the following:

 Create a coalition action plan


 Establish objectives for a program or intervention
 Select the strategies to use in a program or intervention
 Establish a baseline for evaluating progress in the community
 Identify new ideas, strategies, partners and resources that can be used in working toward a common goal

Conducting a Community Assessment

The process of conducting a community assessment can be divided into three phases: pre-assessment,
assessment and post-assessment. Questions to consider during the pre-assessment phase include the following:

 What is going to be assessed?


 What is already known?
 What data will need to be collected?
 How and by whom will data be collected?
 How and by whom will data be analyzed?
A community assessment begins with the community. During the pre-assessment phase, the coalition can also
identify community partners, ask them to self-assess their resources and ask them to identify the health issues
that they believe are most important to address (Butterfoss, 2007).

Once these questions have been answered, the coalition can proceed through the following steps to conduct
their assessment. Technical assistance with the following steps is often available from local Extension offices,
local health departments and other local non-profit organizations.

1. Determine the purpose and scope of the assessment.

a. Decide whether the assessment will focus on a specific population within the community versus the
community at large.
b. Decide which health topics to prioritize, limiting the scope of the assessment to what can reasonably be
accomplished.

2. Define the goals and objectives of the assessment.

3. Select data collection methods to use.

a. Find out whether the desired information exists or if a new data collection effort is needed.
b. Common methods for new data collection include surveys, interviews, focus groups and observation.

4. Select or design the necessary instruments and procedures for data collection.

a. Look for valid and reliable instruments that have been tested in similar communities with similar
populations. It is much easier and less costly to adapt an existing instrument than to create one from
scratch.

5. Pilot test the instruments and procedures.

6. Prepare a timeline and budget.

7. Collect the data.

8. Analyze the data.

9. Prepare and disseminate a report of the findings.

10. Evaluate the assessment's merit and worth.

a. Consider what worked well, what problems were encountered and what could have been done better.
Tips for Effectively Reporting a Community Assessment

 Prepare multiple reports using a variety of media.


 Include an executive summary.
 Keep a logical sequence in mind, using language that is easily understandable.
 Highlight the information that community members perceive as most important.
 Explain why the needs assessment was completed, what is now known that was not known before and
how the new information will help address discrepancies in the community.
 Acknowledge limitations and alternative explanations for the findings.
 Keep the information relevant, practical, credible and understandable.
Resource mobilization
Resource mobilization refers to all activities involved in securing new and additional resources for your
organization. It also involves making better use of, and maximizing, existing resources. Resource mobilization
is often referred to as ‘New Business Development’. The figure below shows how New Business Opportunities
– which are intended to mobilize resources – form part of an organization’s overall functioning.

Why is resource mobilization so important?

Resource mobilization is critical to any organization for the following reasons:

1. Ensures the continuation of your organization’s service provision to clients


2. Supports organizational sustainability
3. Allows for improvement and scale-up of products and services the organization currently provides
4. Organizations, both in the public and private sector, must be in the business of generating new business
to stay in business

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