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Community Assessment — Step 1: Understanding the Key Principles of Community Assessment
Before you begin, it is important to understand the purpose of community assessment. This information may also be used to recruit key stakeholders and engage them in this important process.
Definition
A community assessment is a collaborative process to determine the ability of a community to support its citizens in a given area by:
- Understanding the environment older adults and their families live in and the issues they face
- Locating hidden strengths and underutilized resources
- Identifying the resources and talents of individuals and families, and cataloging the public and private services that exist in the community
- Designing effective collaborative strategies that respond to important issues
- Determining which resources contribute to comprehensive strategies and how they should be used
- Empowering community members by giving them a role in designing and implementing these strategies
Guiding Principles of Community Assessment
- Create a Vision Statement
- Identify a Coordinator
- Recognize Diversity
- Examine Multiple Perspectives
- Set Priorities
- Continue the Ongoing Process
Create a Vision Statement
A Vision Statement for an Aging-friendly Community should guide all activities. The statement should ask the following questions:
- What do we want our community to look like today, tomorrow, or 10 to 20 years from now?
- What does it mean for members of our community to age well?
Identify a Coordinator
A successful assessment process must have a coordinator and a team. Someone must be in charge of the process and a team needs to lead the assessment process. The community assessment team must designate a lead entity who will serve as the coordinator. The coordinator serves as a single point of contact in organizing the information-gathering process, facilitating partnership meetings and communicating progress and results. The coordinating entity should have comprehensive knowledge about the community and a clear understanding of the vision for an aging-friendly community.
Recognize Diversity
An effective assessment recognizes the diversity of the community. Texas is composed of diverse communities. The experiences among older adults in each community vary by ethnicity, culture, language, and economic and social circumstances. The assessment team should represent and collect information from all these perspectives, as well as those of the businesses, faith-based, and nonprofit sectors.
Examine Multiple Perspectives
An accurate assessment views the community from multiple perspectives. Aging Texas Well is a holistic model that recognizes interconnectedness across 14 areas of daily life and community support. Communities should think holistically and evaluate their strengths, resources, and the needs of older Texans in areas such as education, employment, volunteerism, recreation, housing, transportation, health care services, caregiving, protections, and community supports.
Set Priorities
An accurate assessment should be comprehensive, yet priorities may be required. The challenge of addressing all aspects of Aging Texas Well can seem overwhelming at first. Community leaders may want to identify priority areas and narrow the initial focus on critical activities to meet their community's goals. For example, access to health care may be a priority, but this issue cannot be addressed without evaluating areas such as personal physical health, financial and legal preparation, and transportation. The goal should be to address as many areas of the Aging Texas Well model as possible.
Continue the Ongoing Process
A quality assessment is an ongoing process. Because it is often challenging to address all aspects of Aging Texas Well at once, it is critical that the community assessment process be allowed to continue over time. While it is practical to prioritize the issues in order of importance, communities must commit to addressing all aspects of Aging Texas Well and not lose momentum. The success of community preparedness is cumulative and is only as strong as its weakest link.
The Next Steps
- Understand the Key Principles of Community Assessment
- Define your Community
- Form A Community Assessment Team
- Use the ATW Community Assessment Survey
- Take Action and Plan for Your Future
Related Links
For more information about Aging Texas Well, please e-mail the Aging Texas Well coordinator at: AgingTexasWellCoordinator@dads.state.tx.us.
Updated: September 15, 2009