Community Needs Assessment Workbook

In planning community and social services, perceptions of need come from many sources-from the local news to political interest groups-but the first step in conducting efficient and effective community interventions is to look beyond perceptions and identify the actual needs based on available evidence. Creating a comprehensive needs assessment is essential for securing funding and designing programs in governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations. This workbookhelps community groups, social service organizations, and government agencies collect, analyze, prioritize, and present local data in a way that will ensure that a community's needs are understood and met.Employing a learn-by-doing approach, the book walks readers through the actual steps of creating a comprehensive needs assessment. The workbook offers thorough background information and provides step-by-step activities to address the entire process beginning with the planning stage, followed by data collection and analysis, and concluding with preparing your report and implementing findings. Whether in a classroom setting or in the workplace, this is the book that practitioners will usethroughout their entire careers.

This is a well written, easy to read, and friendly text. It is well organized and follows a logical progression with a wide variety of easy-to-understand examples ranging from health and human services needs assessments to those for broad community betterment." - Gary Bess, University of Southern California, Chico, Compared with other texts, this workbook is practical, easy to understand, and would help someone conduct a realistic needs assessment to produce very useful information." - Jami Fraze, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Rodney A. Wambeam (PhD, University of Nebraska)is a senior research scientist at the Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center and adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wyoming. He has served as health and human services advisor to the governor of Nebraska, on numerous councils and coalitions, and as technical assistance provider to states and communities throughout America.