Identify two goals of the community needs assessment that that you and your team would implement to address the social problem.

Continue to work on your community needs assessment plan. You will begin by defining at least two goals for your plan that your team will help you carry out. The goals should be 1–2 sentences in length, align to the vision statement that you wrote in Week 4, and reflect the desired outcomes of your plan. One example of a goal is to provide community recreational facilities for children who are unsupervised after school. Another example of a goal is to provide survivors of domestic violence with cell phones for emergency use.

In addition to defining goals, you will identify data sources that your team would use to gain a better understanding of the magnitude of the problem, what has been done to address it, and what gaps exist. For example, if there is a high rate of recidivism among people who were recently released from prison in your community, you may want to review laws and policies related to re-entry and parole, statistics about unemployment rates among this population, and the number of available halfway houses in your community.

To Prepare

• Consider how to develop a clear path of action, including well-defined goals, for addressing the problem you chose for the Final Project.
• Read the article, “Using Public Records and Archival Data.” Think about how to use public records and archival data to gain a better understanding of the magnitude of a social problem, what has been done to address it, and what gaps exist. (https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-resources/public-records-archival-data/main)
• Reflect on the social problem that you chose for your Final Project.
• With the social problem in mind:
  • Identify two goals of the community needs assessment that that you and your team would implement to address the social problem.
  • Identify five data sources (e.g., policy, local laws, statistics about who from the population is impacted by the problem) that your team would use for the community needs assessment.

Address the following issues

• Refine the Problem Statement. Refine your problem statement, based on what you learned from your peers, your Instructor, and/or the Learning Resources this week and in previous weeks.
• Develop a Team Strategy. Normally, after you have identified a project team, you would meet with the team and collaborate on the items listed below. In this case, since you are only planning the community needs assessment, you will address these items yourself rather than with a team.
  • Define two goals of the community needs assessment that you and your team would implement to address the social problem.
  • Identify five data sources that your team would use for the community needs assessment (e.g., policy, local laws, statistics about who from the population is impacted by the problem). Explain how your team would use the data sources to gain a better understanding of the magnitude of the problem, what has been done to address it, and/or what gaps exist.