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How to Develop a Community Needs Assessment

What is a Community Needs Assessment?

A Community Needs Assessment is a systematic exploration of all government and private non-profit agencies working together within your area Human Resource Development (HRD) to solve social issues within your community. In this written document it’s imperative that your reader understand exactly what each service provider brings to the table, as well as related costs to operate these programs.

In developing this document, it will require a lot of time investigating what your community has to offer in the way of Human Resource services.

A Needs Assessment is a tool for program planning that helps you evaluate the following:

  • The capacity of different service providers, or lack thereof within your community.
  • Assess the appropriate mix of service providers, by comparing services rendered, to a measured population, and comparing this data to general statistics on a nation-wide bases.

          Examples

  1. How many hospital beds per 1000 people in your community?
  2. How many Detox-beds beds per 1000 in your community?
  3. How many Doctors per 1000 people are there in your community?
  • Documents the co-ordination of services between service providers in your HRD, including what intervention systems are available, while showing a flow chart of serves verses needs.
  • Lists all available facilities, as well as the number of clients living in these facilities, showing number of clients entering the program, how long their served, as well as number existing these programs.
  • Document these outcomes, show the number leaving prior to graduation, as well as those graduating and transitioning back into your community.

Your main objectives is to identify where the unment needs are, these are called (Gaps). Therefore, locate the Gaps with in your communities HRD, identify existing services and find where the need is to develop new services within your HRD overall continuum of care.

Another objective is to identify overlaps. An overlap is where two or more agencies provide similar, or duplicate services? This would be an area in which you would want to stay away from, duplication is not something that your community or local government would want to support. However, this is worth mentioning in your needs assessment report, but remember, not to attack the ones who are duplicating services, be objective, but have fact to support your findings.

Why do a Needs Assessment?

You want your readers to understand the ways all organizations work together, document how they function within your local (HRD) continuum.

This report should include various intervention programs, detox-facilities, number of beds for the homeless, number of beds for alcohol and drug recovery programs, work, job, or career training programs, over night shelter beds, differentiate- shelter for families, or men, woman, or women with children.

If you have a coalition, get their information and use their findings, but make sure that you verify accuracy of their information. Information is king these days. Usually the one with the most accurate information, and the one who has the right team assembled, leads the way. This organization generally ends up with most of the funding.

Question?

Does your community have a homeless coalition? If you’re starting a Rescue Mission, get involved with your coalition and make an effort to lead the way. If there isn’t one, consider starting one. Keep in mind the question, what are the legitimate unmet needs in your community, and what are not legitimate needs? How can these Gaps best be filled? How will the services you intend to provide to change the face, or complexion, of these GAPS?

One of the main reasons for doing this assessment is to gain support, to find new donors, attract board members, and new volunteers to join your cause. When this all comes together, you’ll have a team working together to meet the many challenges you’ve identified. This document when completed will be of great value when approaching your City, or local County government agencies. It will help them better understand the problems of Gaps, as well as the overlaps that exist inside your HRD.

What a Needs Assessment is not!

Remember, you’re not trying to legitimize these programs, but rather identify them. A Needs Assessment is not a Case Statement. However, it is a precursor to developing a comprehensive full on study of the social needs in your community. If you’re needs assessment is done correctly, it will provide the building blocks to develop a comprehensive case statement for your organization.

Other considerations in a Needs Assessment

Questions will arise concerning, treatment, facilities, jurisdiction, priorities and availability of Services, and their accessibility. A needs assessment should address all of these issues and more. One of the objectives of the needs assessment should be to clarify, with documentation, various communities’ mandates, as well as identify available funding for these mandates. Your document should show why your organization deserves to make allocation for these funds. It should also show why you qualify, and who your quailed staff members, board member, community leaders as well as the number of volunteers are on your current team. It should also address the type of experience required for hiring future staff members. It should show the success your organization has had had in the past, and how these funds will add to your future success.

If you have News Paper stories, include them, if these stories document that you are meeting specific need in your community.

SIX STEPS TO CONDUCTING A NEEDS ASSESSMENT:

Step 1. "GAP" ANALYSIS
You must be objective in evaluating your current situation. Determine your current skills, knowledge, and the abilities of your employees, as well as what types of skilled employees you’ll need in the future. This analysis should also examine, and explain your organizational goals, as well as internal and external constraints within your organization:

  • Educate Board Members
  • Educated Staff members, document this
  • Educate Volunteers; show the numbers you have, as well as where they’re from, who, and why the serve.
  • Educate the public and potential donors about the population you serve, who are they, and why they need your help

It’s important that you identify what immediate action is necessary to take in the beginning, as well as well what long-term strategies must be accomplished to meet your goals and objectives. You must identify your current practices, but also distinguish actual needs from perceived needs.

Make a good case as to: ACTUAL NEEDS & PRECEIVED NEEDS-

Needs, are completely different from WANTS!

Identify:

  1. Problems or deficits in your current HRD
  2. Impending changes in the HRD
  3. Opportunities you see with these changes
  4. Strengths & Weakness in your local HRD
  5. Any new directions your organization is headed
  6. Mandated training; how you will provide education or training for employees, volunteers, but most important for your client base

Step 2. IDENTIFY PRIORITIES AND IMPORTANCE.

Produce a large list of needs, i.e. training and development, career development, organization development, and intervention methods needed in your HRD community:

  1. Cost-effectiveness, We can do it for less! WHY
  2. Legal mandates, Laws required, and safety issues, give a solution!
  3. Executive pressure has your board and Ex-director designed this solution?
  4. Population, What other people are included in your solution? Have you formed a coalition, do you have any other agencies to help fill in your gaps?
  5. Customers.
  6. Most important; what can your clients expect to receive, and how will they be influenced, or benefit?

If some of your needs are of relatively lower importance, you should devote your energies to addressing issues where your experience and education lies concentrate on the problems with greater impact and greater value.

Step 3. IDENTIFY CAUSES OF PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS AND/OR OPPORTUNITIES.

You must prioritize then focus on critical organizational needs as well as personal needs in your community. Next identify specific problem areas, as well as opportunities in your organization. You should know and understand what kinds of performance requirements are expected of your organization, as well as the appropriate solutions to take to in order to reach these performance levels. Spell out how they will be applied.

Ask yourself these five questions to help identify needs

  • Are your people doing their jobs effectively?
  • Who says so, you?
  • Are your people familiar with their job description?
  • How do your clients feel your doing?
  • Have you tested your employees, do you evaluated your employees twice a year?

This will require dialog, detailed investigation, and objective analysis of you, and your people. You must do this to help others understand what is being accomplished within your organization currently, as well as preparation for the future situations.

Step 4. IDENTIFY POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS AND GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES.

Are people doing their jobs effectively? Don’t take the approach, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Get an outside source if necessary to evaluate objectively, don’t embrace some self-absorbing idea that your organization has all the answers. Dig deep into the complex difficulties that exist within your communities HRD, they’re there, if you look closely. However, be willing to take some training, educate yourself, and educate others on your intended intervention. Emphasize the importance your organization will make in changing the culture within your community, when you direct these actions into a new directions.

What must be done to change the course of these actions? If you’re not doing your jobs effectively, how can future funding change what and how you’ll do things in the future?

  • Training may be the solution, if there is a knowledge problem.
  • Organization development, changing your current activities may provide a solution as well.

Solutions are based on an understanding of current knowledge. However, a new plan should be developed when new needs are uncovered. Your job is to uncover these new needs and provide a solution to solve your community social problems. In your document provide an over-all plan to create a systematic change. These interventions might include strategic planning, organization restructuring, performance management and/or effective team building.

Step 5. TECHNIQUES FOR INVESTIGATING ORGANIZATIONAL AND PERSONAL NEEDS:

Use multiple methods of Needs Assessment. To obtain a true picture, don't rely on one method. It is important to get a complete picture from many sources and viewpoints. Don't take someone else’s word for what is needed.

There are several basic Needs Assessment techniques. Use a combination of the following:

  1. Direct observation
  2. Questionnaires
  3. Consultation with persons in key positions, and/or with specific knowledge
  4. Review of relevant literature
  5. Interviews
  6. Focus groups
  7. Tests
  8. Records & report studies
  9. Work samples

An excellent comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of each of these methods can be found in the Training and Development Journal. (7)

Remember, actual needs are not always the same as perceived needs, or "wants". Look for what the organization and people really need. They may not know what they need, but may have strong opinions about what they want.

Use your collected data in proposing HRD solutions:

  • Use data to make your points. This avoids confronting management since your conclusions will flow from your Needs Assessment activities.
  • Everybody should share the data collected.
  • It is important to provide feedback to everyone who was involved soliciting this information.
  • This is necessary if everyone is to "buy into" any proposed training or organization development plan.

Having identified these problems and performance deficiencies, you must lay out the difference between the costs of any proposed solutions opposed to the cost if you do not implementing the solution.

Put together an economic "gap analysis":

* What are the costs if no solution is applied?
* What are the costs of conducting programs to change, or improve the situation?

The difference determines the intervention activities and how much they cost and will they be cost-effective. Therefore, will it make sense to design, and develop these programs, then to implement the proposed HRD solutions?

Step 6. SUMMARY STEPS IN A NEEDS ANALYSIS:

  1. Perform a "gap" analysis to identify the current skills, knowledge, and abilities of your people, and the organizational and personal needs for HRD activities
  2. Identify your priorities and importance of possible activities
  3. Identify the causes of your performance problems and/or opportunities Identify possible solutions and growth opportunities.

Then finally:

  • Compare the consequences if the program is or is not implemented
  • Generate and communicate your recommendations for training and development, organization development, career development, and/or other interventions.

Other organizations that help can help you with your Needs Assessment training.

There are many others organizations that provide this type of information to assist you in preparing a community Needs Assessment. If you don’t understand the needs in your communities HRD, you’ll be ill prepared to face the challenges that confront your community. You’ll never know how to go about providing the right kind of help, or what, and who your community is looking for to perform these services.

The better your information, the clearer your vision! The clearer your vision, the better you’ll be able to analyze this information. The better your needs assessment, the better chance you have in preparing a comprehensive case statement for your organization, and any future activities. A case statement is a dynamic document. If you want to know how to prepare a comprehensive Case Statement go back to the Home Page and click on: “How to write a Comprehends Case Statement”

This document was prepared by:

Strategy Plus / JOR