Community Project Part 1:
Problem Identification and Community Assessment
*ONLY ONE MEMBER PER TEAM SHOULD SUBMIT THE ASSIGNMENT FOR THE
TEAM
Problem Identification: Your team will identify and analyze one specific issue or problem. The problem you identify must be embedded within a geographic community context (i.e., the problem can be observed and assessed within a specific geographic context), and it may focus on a specific population. Please consider feasibility when selecting (e.g., geographic proximity, access to community and stakeholders, available information, etc.). Examples of community issue areas that have been assessed in past classes include homelessness in the downtown Baton Rouge area, mentally ill adults in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, children with learning disabilities in the Hattiesburg, Mississippi Public School System.
Develop Assessment Plan: Your team will design a plan to research what you believe is the identified problem and its community context. This should include information on the problem and target populations(s), history of the identified problem and populations(s), and community context related to the problem (both assets as well as needs). Some guiding questions that your report should at a minimum answer include:
What is the goal of your needs assessment plan (Why are you focusing on this community? What problem do you believe exists that you want to verify?|
What are the characteristics of your chosen community (total population, racial/ethnic/gender makeup, socioeconomic status, etc.)? Has the community changed historically, and, if so, how and why? Are some members of the community affected differently/more/less by change than others, and in what ways?
What is the community context? What are its geographic boundaries? What are the structures of power in this community?
What formal and informal services (public, non-profit, for-profit, voluntary, etc.) and other assets are available that currently address problems directly or serve the population affected (strengths of the community) and how do they do so? Are there any linkages/connections between services? How accessible are the services? What funding sources are currently used or are available for addressing the problem? What strengths
and values does the population possess?
5. How would you determine what the community members consider a need, shortcoming, or gap in services in their community? You must design at least two (2) additional sources of data gathering (in addition to the secondary data used above). The other two can be surveys of the community, interviews with stakeholders in the community, virtual focus groups with community members, windshield surveys (in person or
virtual). Attach copies of surveys, focus group and/or interview questions created. If proposing a windshield survey, provide the route your team would take and the documentation process you would use while conducting the windshield survey.
Draft Problem Statement – Based on your secondary data research, what community-based needs, shortcomings, or gaps exist that either exacerbate the problem or make the problem
difficult to address? This is your problem statement.
One piece of quantitative data that you should use to understand the community in which your problem is embedded is the American Community Survey, produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. This can be used to identify relevant quantitative indicators of your selected community and associated problem. You can use quick tables, data profiles, multiyear profiles, and narrative profiles provided in the American Community Survey to describe the geographic area. Your team may also develop your own custom tables. The report should include general characteristics, social characteristics, and economic characteristics. In addition, to help the reader understand your community, you may wish to include comparisons to other communities.
The submitted community assessment assignment should clearly articulate what evidence will be used to answer these questions (i.e., cite your references when appropriate throughout the report, including for interviews).
The information you gather in response to questions 1-5 above should be synthesized into a professional report. There is no page minimum, but should include enough information so that a reader fully understands how the problem could be further assessed and its context, in consideration of, at a minimum, the questions outlined above. It should also provide enough information to be a logical foundation for Part 2 of the community project.
You must use in-text citations and include a reference page that is in APA 7th edition style format. For this assignment, please include an APA style title page and page numbers. Use the recommended APA Manual, 7th edition for assistance.
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