U5D1-28 - Determine and Analze the Steps for the Case Study Project. Please follow all instructions and Reading material provided.

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Riverbend City: Needs Assessment Interviews and Proposal

Introduction Congratulations! Riverbend City is conducting a needs assessment of the Ruby Lake neighborhood —and you’ve been asked to conduct the analysis.

Instructions To help you write your assessment, you’ll need to review two documents: (1) a neighborhood demographic sheet, and (2) a report that highlights the key findings of a neighborhood survey. In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to meet with the Ruby Lake Needs Assessment Committee again and interview them about the survey results.

Prioritizing community needs is always a challenge. As you learn more about the Ruby Lake neighborhood, think about which needs you feel are the most urgent, and which ones are less urgent. Good luck!.

Mo Xiong - RBC Diversity Liaison Welcome back! I’m so glad to hear that you’ll be writing the needs analysis for the Ruby Lake neighborhood. Here are two documents that will help you. The first is a demographic information sheet for the neighborhood. The second is an executive summary of a survey of residents that was conducted recently. Be sure to save or print out these documents! After you read this information, then you’ll be able to interview the members of the Ruby Lake Needs Assessment Committee to help you prioritize the many community needs.

Demographic Information about Riverbend City Riverbend City Ruby Lake Neighborhood

Population 400,070 7,324

- Caucasian 63.8% 16.9%

- African-American 18.6% 4.2%

- Hispanic/Latino 10.5% 72.8%

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Riverbend City Ruby Lake Neighborhood

- Asian/Pac. Islander 4.9% 1.3%

- Native American .2% .2%

Two or more races 4.4% 4.6%

Homeownership Rates 51.8% 30.2%

Median home value $225,100 $145,300

Per capita income in last 12 months $35,832 $28,456

Unemployment rate 6.7% 12.7%

Unemployment rate, persons 16 to 25 years old 11.3% 18.4%

High school graduation rate, persons 25 or higher 88.3% 65%

Bachelor’s degree or higher, persons 25 or higher 45.7% 38%

Children enrolled in after school programs 19.2% 7.3%

Violent crime rate, over last 5 years -11.2% -5.9%

Property crime rate, over last five years +1.2% -16.4%

Pregnancy rate per 1000 live births, 15-17 year old girls 44.5 94.0

Rates of diabetes over last 5 years +3.2% +2.9%

Rates of metabolic syndrome over past 5 years +3.8% +1.2%

Average miles to nearest large grocery store 1.8 miles 4.9 miles

Executive Summary of Ruby Lake Neighborhood Survey

Ruby Lake Needs Assessment Summary of Findings

Background

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Ruby Lake is a neighborhood in Riverbend City’s near south side, southwest of downtown. As of the last census reading, the population of Ruby Lake was 7,324. The population is approximately 75 percent Latino.

A community needs assessment was conducted in the Ruby Lake neighborhood because the previous assessment took place ten years prior and has become outdated. In the past decade, the population of the Ruby Lake has changed dramatically. Since the 1930s, Ruby Lake has been primarily a Polish American neighborhood. The Polish American population gradually began to decline in the past 25 years. Throughout the history of the Ruby Lake neighborhood, there has always been a significant Latino minority population. In the last ten years, the Latino population has become the majority.

The Survey To determine the needs of the Ruby Lake neighborhood, a Ruby Lake Needs Assessment Committee was formed. The committee worked with the Mayor’s Office to create a needs assessment survey for Ruby Lake residents. The survey consisted of 50 survey questions and four open-ended questions about the neighborhood and community needs. The survey was completed by 541 residents, ages 16 and older.

Summary of Key Findings The following is a summary of the results of the survey:

1. Teen pregnancy. According to the survey, teen pregnancy was the single biggest concern of residents. 75% of survey participants reported they were concerned or very concerned about teen pregnancy. Statistically, this is indeed a problem in the Ruby Lake neighborhood. Two years ago, the birth rate for 15–17 year old girls in the Ruby Lake neighborhood was the highest in Riverbend City—94 per 1000 live births. In comparison, the citywide rate was44.5 per 1000 births.

2. High school graduation rate. 64% of the survey participants reported that they were concerned or very concerned about high school graduation rates. Although high school graduation rates in the neighborhood have improved (from 56% five years ago to 65% last year for persons 25 years old or older), Ruby Lake has one of the lowest graduation rates in the city.

3. Unemployment. 61% of residents reported being concerned or very concerned about unemployment—and 70% of residents said they were completely unsatisfied or unsatisfied with employment opportunities in the nearby area. The statistics were nearly identical when asked about the availability of youth employment opportunities. Many comments on the survey referred to the closing of the Schneider Chemical Plant, which was located at the southern end of the neighborhood and closed 18 months ago. The plant closing resulted in the loss of 713 jobs.

4. Crime. 64% of residents reported that they were completely unsatisfied or unsatisfied with neighborhood safety. In the open-ended comments on the survey, 59 percent of those who answered the question, “What are three things you dislike about this community?” mentioned crime-related concerns. About 40 percent of these participants mentioned concerns about gangs.

5. After school programs. Over 80% of residents ranked after-school programs as important or very important. However, only 11% of participants indicated that they were satisfied or completely satisfied with the availability of after-school programs. In fact, there are no after-school programs located in the Ruby Lake neighborhood; students who do participate primarily attend programs at Washington Allston Elementary School and Lonnie Weissenberger Middle School, which are located to the north of the Ruby Lake neighborhood.

6. Access to healthy foods. When asked about the availability of good grocery stores, only 35% of participants indicated that they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied.” There are no large grocery stores located in the Ruby Lake neighborhood.

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Ruby Lake Neighborhood | San Lorenzo Catholic Curch Now that you’ve read a summary of the survey results, it’s time to talk to the Ruby Lake Needs Assessment Committee. The questions you ask the committee members will help you decide how to prioritize community needs—and how to write your needs assessment.

Click on each of the committee members to see what they’re thinking! Then you’ll have the opportunity to choose from a list of questions to ask each of them. The questions you ask will generate a report, which will help you write your needs assessment.

Conversation 1: Martin Lewis wants to make teen pregnancy prevention a top priority.

Martin: From working at the clinic, I already knew that teen pregnancy was a problem. But these numbers shock me. We have the highest teen pregnancy rate in the city! And our rate is 12-percent higher than the average for Latino teenagers nationwide. We have to do something.

Questions for Martin: Q: Why do you think teen pregnancy prevention needs to be prioritized as one of the top needs in the Ruby Lake community? A: We have to address teen pregnancy before we can address anything else because teen pregnancy compounds other problems. It compounds the graduation rate because girls with babies often drop out. It also compounds the unemployment problem because it’s harder for girls to get jobs without a diploma and with childcare responsibilities. And children born to teen mothers often grow up in poverty and have obstacles to their own success in school and when they get older.

Q: Do you think better sex education is needed in the schools in the Ruby Lake neighborhood? A: We need top-notch sex education and pregnancy prevention programs at Ruby Lake High School and at the middle school, too. They don't even talk about birth control at Ruby Lake High until 12th grade, and that's way too late. Before that, all the kids get is abstinence-only education. And some patronizing class where they carry around an egg and pretend like it's a baby. Are you kidding? And I know that there’s a lot of pressure from the community to stick with abstinence-only education, since this is a largely Catholic community. But study after study demonstrates that abstinence-only education does not work. I’m all for respecting the wishes of the community, but in this case we have a crisis on our hands, and we really need to push back and fight for sex education that really works.

Q: Are there other things the community can do besides sex education classes to prevent teen pregnancy? A: What teenagers need is information—information on how to prevent pregnancy and STDs, and information about the potential dangers of sexual behavior. They can get this information from various places—parents, ideally, or from a doctor or a clinic. At our clinic, we go out of our way to distribute information to teenagers. But clearly they’re not getting all the information they need because teen pregnancy is such a big problem.

Conversation 2: Superintendent Bruce Greenberg wants to make after school programs a top priority.

After-school programs can be expensive. That's the main reason we don't have enough of them in this community right now. But I think the committee needs to recommend these to the city as a top priority.

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Questions for Bruce: Q: Why do you think after school programs need to be prioritized as one of the top needs in the Ruby Lake community? A: Good after school programs can address so many problems. They can help improve graduation rates, and in turn help better prepare young people for college or the workplace. They also help with the youth crime rate by keeping young people busy and involved in the community. And sports and exercise related programs can help keep kids healthy.

Q: After school programs are expensive. How would you justify this? A: It’s expensive to not offer after school programs. It’s expensive when kids don’t graduate from high school and need social services. It’s expensive when kids commit crimes. And it’s especially expensive when kids wind up in the criminal justice system. After school programs can address all these issues.

Q: What if kids don’t want to participate in these programs? A: Well, if we’re going to implement these programs, we have to be smart about it. We need to choose programs that are both beneficial to kids and appealing to them. And we definitely need to have buy-in from parents. That makes a huge difference.

Conversation 3: Lieutenant Ed Kowalski wants to make crime prevention a top priority.

Ed: So at the last meeting, you thought I was a big old meanie when I said I wanted to do something about crime and gangs. Well, the numbers in this report speak for themselves. We need more cops on the street. Period. And we need to try the anti-gang initiative that's been used in the Shoals neighborhood.

Questions for Ed:

Q: Why do you think crime prevention need to be prioritized as one of the top needs in the Ruby Lake community? A: If a community is going to thrive, people have to feel safe. If people feel safe, they’ll open businesses and give people jobs. They’ll feel more comfortable volunteering in the community and helping out their neighbors. And we want to make sure crime and gangs and aren’t a temptation for kids who need to be in school and concentrating on their futures. The less crime we have in the neighborhood, the more likely it is that kids can succeed.

Q: The neighborhood anti-gang initiative you mentioned involves pulling known gang members aside for minor offenses. Is this profiling? A: I’m not talking about arresting good kids for jaywalking. I’m talking about targeting kids who we know are involved with gangs. There’s a difference. Gang members are a danger to the well-being of the neighborhood. They bring in drugs and steer good kids the wrong way. Everybody benefits when you get tough on gangs.

Q: Will more cops on the street cause tensions in the community? A: Well, yeah, if the cops aren’t trained right. The trick is that cops need to make themselves a trusted part of the community. They need to take the time to get to know people, and not just when there’s a crime. People need to know that we’re here to keep the neighborhood safe and that we’re on their side.

Conversation 4: Victor Maldonado wants to make infrastructure improvements a top priority.

Victor: Overall, I'm happy with the research conducted by the city. But I have to say I'm disappointed that so little attention was paid to infrastructure problems.

Questions for Victor:

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Q: Why do you think infrastructure improvements need to be prioritized as one of the top needs in the Ruby Lake community? A: We need to take pride in what our community looks like. If we have bridges and streets that are falling apart, what message does that send to the kids in the neighborhood? Don’t we want our kids to play in a park that’s not totally in disrepair? And if we can’t rely on our sewer and water systems—well, those are basic needs. You know who else has problems with sewer and water systems? Third world countries. The residents in this neighborhood deserve better than that.

Q: Infrastructure improvements are expensive. How would you justify this? A: What’s more expensive—fixing the sewers now, or when they completely fall apart? Also, infrastructure improvements are an investment. We want to attract businesses to our community, and we’re not going to do that if the streets are full of potholes and the sewer system is unreliable.

Q: Can the community involvement address some of these issues? A: Well, some of them. We could get a group of volunteers to clean up the park. But it’s not like we can get people from the neighborhood to fix the potholes and the sewers. That’s only going to happen when we get the funding for these major projects.

Conversation 5: Store owner Pilar Mendez wants to make access to nutritious food a top priority.

Pilar: I really like this idea of a community garden. I can only stock so much produce in my store, and I know that access to healthy food is an issue around here.

Questions for Pilar:

Q: Why do you think access to nutritious food needs to be prioritized as one of the top needs in the Ruby Lake community? A: Healthy food is a basic need. How can we expect kids to do well in school if they’re not getting their nutritional needs met? And healthy food simply isn’t available to everyone in this neighborhood. It’s a huge problem. There’s fast food and liquor stores everywhere, but the nearest large grocery store is five miles away. Many people do not have cars, and there’s no direct bus route from here to any of the grocery stores in Riverbend City! Sores like mine can only stock so much fresh food. When I do stock it, it flies off the shelves. Even the community food shelf doesn’t have enough fresh food to go around. I used to volunteer there, and most of what they have is canned food and processed garbage.

Q: Why a community garden? A: Homeownership is low in this neighborhood. A community garden gives people the opportunity to grow food even if they live in apartments. A lot of older people around here like me, we’re immigrants, and we grew up growing our own food in the places where we came from. We can pass on this knowledge to the new generation. Plus it’s just a great way to build community, and it’s a very inexpensive investment.

Q: Statistics show that issues like diabetes aren’t as serious in this neighborhood as previous thought. Why make a health issue like this a priority? A: Just because people don’t have diabetes doesn’t mean they don’t need healthy food. People eat healthy to prevent diseases, not just because they have one.

Conversation 6: Teacher Nicole Fernandez wants to make job training programs for young people a top priority.

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Nicole: After-school programs and job training are both beneficial for young people. Anything that benefits young people should be our top priority.

Questions for Nicole: Q: Why do you think job training programs for young people needs to be prioritized as one of the top needs in the Ruby Lake community? A: Honestly, when I first joined this committee, I didn’t think this should be a top priority! But now I see what a significant problem unemployment is for young people. This is especially true for high school dropouts, but the employment rate for graduates is way too long as well. There used to be lots of good manufacturing jobs in this neighborhood for young people, but they’re gone now. If young people can’t stay in this neighborhood and make a decent living, they’ll leave, which will affect the stability of the neighborhood. And some of them will turn to crime.

Q: Job training programs are expensive. How would you justify the expense? A: Job training programs are an investment. More higher-paid people in this neighborhood means more stability and more money for the neighborhood as a whole. Job training programs can also bring more business into the community.

Q: The graduation rate in Ruby Lake is very low. Shouldn’t that be a bigger priority? A: Both of these issues should be priorities. The lack of jobs in the neighborhood compounds the low graduation rate. Kids don’t feel like there’s any reason to graduate, since there aren’t enough good jobs for graduates. Also, job training programs can be included at the high school level for credit, which would help directly with graduation rates.

Conclusion You have now completed your interviews with the Ruby Lake Needs Assessment Committee. it’s time to write your community needs assessment!

Credits Subject Matter Expert: tbd

Interactive Design: Marc Ashmore, Chris Schons

Media Instructional Designer: Naomi Rockler-Gladen

Instructional Designer: Karen Weigman

Project Manager: Nakeela Hall

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/)