Next steps social change

HUMN 6785 Final Project: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

For the Final Project, you will create a community needs assessment plan for a specific social problem. Please read the following frequently asked questions (FAQs) and answers to learn more about the Final Project.

1. How do I choose a social problem for my Final Project? Choose a social problem that aligns with the human services profession, your human services specialization, and your individual aims, morals, and values. The problem should also affect your local community and exist on a global level. Consider the following example. Due to mass incarceration, there is an increasing number of children with incarcerated parents. This is considered a local problem (e.g., parents are incarcerated in local jails or prisons and the children of incarcerated parents in the community may suffer emotional, social, and economic consequences as a result). On a local level, advocates and consultants may respond by proposing a mentoring program within the school system as a protective factor for these children. On a global level, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child may recognize the need for structural-level social change and propose appropriate infrastructure such as social services, schools as stabilizing factors, and community resources for children of incarcerated parents in all countries.

2. How do community needs assessment plans integrate prevention, consultation, and advocacy? A community needs assessment entails assessing a social problem, identifying the root causes of the problem, and determining what resources (assets) are needed to address the problem. Prevention is generally rooted in public health and wellbeing. When advanced human services professional practitioners conduct community needs assessments, they consult with cross-disciplinary teams of stakeholders to address and prevent social problems from reoccurring. Many of these stakeholders have subject matter expertise, and act as consultants to offer guidance on how a social problem should be addressed. Advocacy involves taking up a cause and considering how policy, laws, and process can contribute to the positive outcomes for affected individuals. Some stakeholders on a community needs assessment team will also play the role of an advocate.

3. Why am I referring to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) Community Needs Assessment Participant Workbook as a guide for the Final Project? Isn’t this workbook focused on health-related issues? While the CDC workbook is mostly aligned with public health, it does provide a template that is fully populated with examples that can be applied to social problems like those encountered in the human services profession. There are many templates that can be used to complete a community needs assessment, ranging from simple to complex. However, the CDC workbook provides great

examples of how to complete an in-depth community needs assessment. For this course, you will complete a shorter version and only plan the assessment.

4. How do I develop a vision statement that articulates what the problem would look like if it were solved? Think about how you envision the ultimate solution to the social problem. Use clear, succinct, non-technical language to create one or two sentences that describe what the successful community needs assessment looks like when complete. For example, the vision of a mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents is to provide a program with a 90% retention rate where children have enhanced social and literacy skills.

5. How should I write questions for my interview with the informant? Interview questions should be open-ended and directly related to the social problem. The questions should not be personal. For example, a question regarding access to clean drinking water might be: What is your experience with access to clean drinking water in the community? Note: This question is open- ended. It does not assume access, but rather leaves the question open. Second, it draws upon the experience of getting access, which could be positive or otherwise.

6. How do I create goals for a community needs assessment that relate to the social problem I chose? Goals are aspirational, high-level statements that articulate the desired outcomes of the community needs assessment. Think about the needs associated with the social problem when you are creating goals. For example: The goal of the xyz project is to provide clean drinking water to the entire community within the first 6 months of funding.

7. How would I typically prepare for a meeting with the team that I assembled? As a leader, you should never enter a meeting unprepared. Consider creating a framework for discussions with community members and stakeholders. Use such prompts as: What is my objective? What are the key questions and focus for the group? What brainstorming prompts can I offer? What are the pros and cons of a solution or strategy? What do we know about the current sentiment of the problem?

8. Why is it important to determine a decision-making protocol to use with the team prior to meeting? Team members may come to meetings with strong preferences towards one solution for solving the problem over another. Therefore, it is important to determine a decision-making protocol to use before any decisions are made to ensure that the process of choosing a solution is objective rather than subjective.

9. Once I have identified strategies to address the social problem, what type of data should I use to decide how to implement the strategies? For every social problem, there are authoritative resources that contain fact- based data, which can guide decision-making about how to implement strategies to address the problem. To find data about a social problem, you could start with a general Internet search or a Google Scholar search. In your search, look for credible, objective, and peer-reviewed sources, such as government organizations and research-based organizations. For example, if the problem pertains to high levels of unemployment, the Department of Labor may be one of your sources. Similarly, if your problem pertains to the environment, the Department of Energy may be one of your sources.

10. How should I critique the effectiveness of the proposed strategies? As you work with your team, you will identify critical success factors for the community needs assessment plan. Those success factors will help you critique the effectiveness of the strategies that you implement to address the problem. For example, if you and your team plan on implementing an afterschool program to help children who struggle academically, you might measure your success by verifying that every child in need is matched with a tutor.

HUMN 6785 Final Project: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

For the Final Project, you will create a community needs assessment plan for a specific social problem. Please read the following frequently asked questions (FAQs) and answers to learn more about the Final Project.

1. How do I choose a social problem for my Final Project? Choose a social problem that aligns with the human services profession, your human services specialization, and your individual aims, morals, and values. The problem should also affect your local community and exist on a global level. Consider the following example. Due to mass incarceration, there is an increasing number of children with incarcerated parents. This is considered a local problem (e.g., parents are incarcerated in local jails or prisons and the children of incarcerated parents in the community may suffer emotional, social, and economic consequences as a result). On a local level, advocates and consultants may respond by proposing a mentoring program within the school system as a protective factor for these children. On a global level, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child may recognize the need for structural-level social change and propose appropriate infrastructure such as social services, schools as stabilizing factors, and community resources for children of incarcerated parents in all countries.

2. How do community needs assessment plans integrate prevention, consultation, and advocacy? A community needs assessment entails assessing a social problem, identifying the root causes of the problem, and determining what resources (assets) are needed to address the problem. Prevention is generally rooted in public health and wellbeing. When advanced human services professional practitioners conduct community needs assessments, they consult with cross-disciplinary teams of stakeholders to address and prevent social problems from reoccurring. Many of these stakeholders have subject matter expertise, and act as consultants to offer guidance on how a social problem should be addressed. Advocacy involves taking up a cause and considering how policy, laws, and process can contribute to the positive outcomes for affected individuals. Some stakeholders on a community needs assessment team will also play the role of an advocate.

3. Why am I referring to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) Community Needs Assessment Participant Workbook as a guide for the Final Project? Isn’t this workbook focused on health-related issues? While the CDC workbook is mostly aligned with public health, it does provide a template that is fully populated with examples that can be applied to social problems like those encountered in the human services profession. There are many templates that can be used to complete a community needs assessment, ranging from simple to complex. However, the CDC workbook provides great

examples of how to complete an in-depth community needs assessment. For this course, you will complete a shorter version and only plan the assessment.

4. How do I develop a vision statement that articulates what the problem would look like if it were solved? Think about how you envision the ultimate solution to the social problem. Use clear, succinct, non-technical language to create one or two sentences that describe what the successful community needs assessment looks like when complete. For example, the vision of a mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents is to provide a program with a 90% retention rate where children have enhanced social and literacy skills.

5. How should I write questions for my interview with the informant? Interview questions should be open-ended and directly related to the social problem. The questions should not be personal. For example, a question regarding access to clean drinking water might be: What is your experience with access to clean drinking water in the community? Note: This question is open- ended. It does not assume access, but rather leaves the question open. Second, it draws upon the experience of getting access, which could be positive or otherwise.

6. How do I create goals for a community needs assessment that relate to the social problem I chose? Goals are aspirational, high-level statements that articulate the desired outcomes of the community needs assessment. Think about the needs associated with the social problem when you are creating goals. For example: The goal of the xyz project is to provide clean drinking water to the entire community within the first 6 months of funding.

7. How would I typically prepare for a meeting with the team that I assembled? As a leader, you should never enter a meeting unprepared. Consider creating a framework for discussions with community members and stakeholders. Use such prompts as: What is my objective? What are the key questions and focus for the group? What brainstorming prompts can I offer? What are the pros and cons of a solution or strategy? What do we know about the current sentiment of the problem?

8. Why is it important to determine a decision-making protocol to use with the team prior to meeting? Team members may come to meetings with strong preferences towards one solution for solving the problem over another. Therefore, it is important to determine a decision-making protocol to use before any decisions are made to ensure that the process of choosing a solution is objective rather than subjective.

9. Once I have identified strategies to address the social problem, what type of data should I use to decide how to implement the strategies? For every social problem, there are authoritative resources that contain fact- based data, which can guide decision-making about how to implement strategies to address the problem. To find data about a social problem, you could start with a general Internet search or a Google Scholar search. In your search, look for credible, objective, and peer-reviewed sources, such as government organizations and research-based organizations. For example, if the problem pertains to high levels of unemployment, the Department of Labor may be one of your sources. Similarly, if your problem pertains to the environment, the Department of Energy may be one of your sources.

10. How should I critique the effectiveness of the proposed strategies? As you work with your team, you will identify critical success factors for the community needs assessment plan. Those success factors will help you critique the effectiveness of the strategies that you implement to address the problem. For example, if you and your team plan on implementing an afterschool program to help children who struggle academically, you might measure your success by verifying that every child in need is matched with a tutor.