Readings
Use your Health Program Planning and Evaluation text to read the following:
Chapter 4, “Characterizing and Defining the Health Problem.”
Use the Capella University Library to read the following:
Finifter, D. H., Jensen, C. J., Wilson, C. E., & Koenig, B. L. (2005). A comprehensive, multitiered, targeted community needs assessment model: Methodology, dissemination, and implementation. Family & Community Health, 28(4), 293‒306.
Harris, M. J. (2017). Evaluating public and community health programs. Wiley.
Chapter 12, “Case Study: The Community Assessment,” pages 177–186.
International Society for Technology in Education. (2013). Who needs a needs assessment? Learning & Leading with Technology, 40(8), 27.
Royse, D., & Badger, K. (2015). Needs assessment planning: Starting where you are. Australian Social Work, 68(3), 364‒374.
Community Needs Assessment in Riverbend City
Based on this unit’s Riverbend City: Needs Assessment media scenario (linked in Resources), apply systems theory to analyze the community needs assessment process to identify its strengths and weaknesses. Also, provide additional recommendations to address these weaknesses.
Response Guidelines
Respond to two peers, supporting your assertions with credible sources; your required readings would be appropriate for this discussion. Your writing must comply with APA style and format, and be consistent with expectations for the human services profession.
In each response, analyze how the recommendations address weaknesses of the community needs assessment related to issues of diversity, inclusion, or ethics.
Keith: So, here’s the plan. We form a needs assessment committee that represents a cross-section of people in the Ruby Lake neighborhood. The committee will give us a preliminary overview of community needs. Then we’ll conduct quantitative and qualitative research in the neighborhood to get a more formal understanding of what the needs really are. After that, the committee will vote on what they see as the top three needs in the community. We’ll take that recommendation and go from there.
Victor: Sounds good to me, Mayor. I appreciate it. How do we get started?
Mo: Well, we need to invite community members to be on the committee. I’d like to work with you to identify appropriate people.
Victor: Sure. How many people did you have in mind?
Mo: 25? 30? For starters, we should identify a community leader who could help facilitate the meetings.
Victor: Well, we should definitely talk to Father Yuni, the priest at San Lorenzo Church. He’s young and very much in touch with the community. Although… is it okay to bring in a religious leader?
Mo: Oh, definitely. It’s common practice to include religious leaders on needs assessment committees. So…can you think of anyone else off the top of your head to include? Shop owners? Police officers?
Victor: Yes… Pilar Mendez… she owns a popular bodega. I know she’d want to be a part of this. Police officers… we might want to talk to Lieutenant Ed Kowalski. He’s been a fixture in the neighborhood for years.
Mo: Great! Let’s schedule a meeting and get to work on organizing the committee.
Keith: Fantastico! Mo introduces her plans to create a Ruby Lake Needs Assessment Committee.
Mo: Keith, Victor, thank you so much for meeting with me today.
Victor: Thank you for inviting me, Mo. It’s good to see some concern about the events at Ruby Lake during the disaster.
Mo: Well, the problem was pretty obvious, Victor. Ruby Lake was in the direct wind path of the chemicals, and we needed to evacuate fast. Unfortunately, our community outreach plan was completely out of date.
Keith: Mo, what specifically was out of date?
Mo: Everything. Emergency information sheets, evacuation plans, translators, phone trees. Our whole system for communicating crucial information to community members was inadequate.
Victor: That’s not news to me. Things were definitely chaotic. What I want to know is how things got this way.
Mo: Well, the biggest problem is that we haven’t done a community needs assessment in the Ruby Lake neighborhood in 10 years. And as you know, 10 years ago, Ruby Lake was still primarily a Polish neighborhood.
Victor: Yes, that’s about when my family came to Ruby Lake. Our upstairs neighbors were the Lazarskis, and our downstairs neighbors were the Zalenskis. Mrs. Zalenski used to make us pierogies, and my mother made tamales for their family.
Mo: I love stories like that.
Keith:But as you can see, Victor, there’s been a significant demographic shift in your neighborhood, and the city hasn’t caught up to it yet.
Mo: And that’s what this meeting is all about. We’re going to be meeting with some folks next week about the issue of disaster preparedness in Ruby Lake. But what we want to talk to you about is creating a needs assessment committee in the Ruby Lake neighborhood. The disaster made it clear to us that a complete needs assessment is overdue. Victor: The people in my neighborhood, we’re a tight community and we talk a lot. And one of the favorite topics of conversation right now is how badly the city handled the evacuation. People feel betrayed.
Keith: I’m sorry to hear that, Victor. How do they feel betrayed?
Victor: Well… I don’t want to sound disrespectful, Mayor. But you know, during the election, you campaigned heavily in the Ruby Lake neighborhood. We heard promises about how you were going to prioritize the needs of the ethnic communities. But we’ve seen how much money’s been spent on parks and roads in wealthy neighborhoods like Lindner Hills…and meanwhile, we have major infrastructure problems that haven’t been addressed.
Keith: Well, yes. I have made the needs of Ruby Lake and other ethnic neighborhoods a top priority. And I plan to continue to do so. Hey, that’s why we created Mo’s position.
Mo: Um… yeah, Keith.
Victor: I’m glad to hear that. And…well, again, I don’t want to sound disrespectful, Mayor. But you know, there’s another election next year, and it’s going to be a close one… and last time, you got the majority of votes in Ruby Lake…
Keith: Comprende, amigo! I’m deeply grateful for the support Martin: I’ve been working in the Ruby Lake clinic for three years now, and one of the growing problems in the community is metabolic syndrome.
Mo: I’m not sure what that is.
Martin: That just means that people have a group of risk factors for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. It’s usually related to obesity. A lot of immigrant communities have this issue. People get accustomed to American dietary habits and their waistlines expand. I’d love to see some kind of public health campaign to teach people about healthier choices.
Yuni: Part of the problem is that it’s not easy to get healthy food in this neighborhood. We’ve got fast food everywhere, but there’s no large grocery store close to Ruby Lake. People who don’t own a car have to ride two busses to get to Cloverleaf Foods.
Martin: I agree, Padre. And people don’t have big plots of land around here to grow their own produce.
Yuni: Maybe what we need is a community garden.
Mo: That’s a great idea, Father Yuni. Martin, what other health issues do you encounter in your clinic?
Martin: Another serious problem in this neighborhood is teen pregnancy. I really think we need to do something about this. I’m sorry, Padre, I hope this isn’t an inappropriate topic to discuss here.
Yuni: Oh no, don’t be silly. This is a topic close to my heart. My little niece Marisol is pregnant, poor thing.
Martin: I’m sorry to hear that, Padre. Unfortunately, she’s not alone. I know the city is going to follow up this meeting with some research. It would be great to see some numbers on how prevalent teen pregnancy is in Ruby Lake. My hunch is that the numbers will be shocking.of the Ruby Lake neighborhood. Victor: Well, I have to say that one of my biggest concerns around here is infrastructure.
Pilar: Ah, Victor… I bet you’re a little concerned about the sewers, huh?
Victor: Well, as a matter of fact, I am, Pilar.
Pilar: Care to share your tale of woe?
Victor: Well, for those of you who don’t know, I had two cars that flooded out in less than a month. Two. Both of them totaled.
Ed: Both totaled?
Victor: Yes, both totaled. I was parked in front of my apartment building before a storm. The sewers backed up and my car was totaled. So I went through my insurance and finally got a new car… and then it happened again.
Ed:
