Community Assessments

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Waccamaw Economic Opportunity Inc.
Program Staff Training
Development Resources and Research, LLC
P. O. Box 11917
Columbia, SC
July 26, 2012
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To Assist the Executive Leadership in Establishing Program Priorities
Based on the Use of Data
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To Provide Guidance to CSBG, Head Start and Weatherization Staff on
the Importance of Understanding and Using Data
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To Better Use Data for Conducting Community Needs Assessment(s) for
CSBG, Head Start and Weatherization Programs
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To Demonstrate Approaches of Using Community Data to Guide
Budgeting Decision Making on Program and Service Delivery
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To Utilize Data to Guide the Waccamaw Executive and Program Staff in
the [Re-]Location of Facilities and Program Based on the Assessment of
Community Needs
Demographic Community Data: What Does It Tell You?
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Provides a “Detailed Snapshot” of [Each] Community in Your Service Area
Gives a Detailed Breakdown of the Community (Key Variables)
Age
Race
Ethnicity
Provides a Profile of Each Major Group For Waccamaw EOC Program(s)
Children Ages 0 to 5 – Early Head Start and Head Start
Youth (Ages 6 to 18) – Fatherhood Initiatives and CSBG Family Programs
Young Parents – Head Start and Weatherization Programs
Working Adults Ages 25 to 64 – Head Start and Weatherization Programs
Senior Adults Ages 55 and Over – Head Start and Weatherization Programs
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Assists in Identifying Special Populations Within Your Service Delivery Area
Children With Special Needs
Veterans
Hispanic and Migrant Children – Early Head Start and Head Start
Other Special Populations
Demographic Community Data: What Does It Tell You? (Cont’d)
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Provides a Profile of Families and Households By Type
Total Families
Single Parent Families
Single Seniors
Single Families Ages 65 and Over
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Can Inform Staff of Where Individuals Come From Who Seek Program
Services (for Head Start, CSBG, Weatherization, LIHEAP)
Can Help Program Staff to Identify and Profile of All Income Eligible
Populations
Can Assist Program Staff in Ranking Program Needs
Can Aid Program Staff in Strategic Planning
Can Ensure That Agency Financial Resources Are Properly Allocated and
Spent
Can Ensure that Program Outcomes Match Program Needs
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How Important Is Data and What Can the
Community Needs Assessment Do?
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Assists Directors With Identifying Needs Based on Current Data
Provides an Accurate Picture of the Needs of the Community
Informs the Board and (Policy) Council Leadership of What the
Real Priorities in the Community Instead of Making False
Assumptions
Can Establish Initial Baseline or Framework for Pursuing New
Grant and Renewing Existing Grants
Can Help Leadership With Determining the Need to Build,
Expand or Relocate Facilities
Can Help With Long Range Planning (3 to 10 Years)
Can Prevent the Straining of Agency and Individual Program
Financial Resources
1305.3 Determining community strengths and needs.
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(a) Each Early Head Start grantee and Head Start grantee must identify its
proposed service area in its Head Start grant application and define it by
county or sub-county area, such as a municipality, town or census tract or
a federally-recognized Indian reservation.
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With regard to Indian Tribes, the service area may include areas
designated as near-reservation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) or,
in the absence of such a designation, a Tribe may propose to define its
service area to include nearby areas where Indian children and families
native to the reservation reside, provided that the service area is approved
by the Tribe's governing council.
1305.3 Determining community strengths and needs.
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(c) Each Early Head Start and Head Start grantee must conduct a
Community Assessment within its service area once every three years.
The Community Assessment must include the collection and analysis of
the following information about the grantee's Early Head Start or Head
Start area:
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(1) The demographic make-up of Head Start eligible children and
families, including their estimated number, geographic location, and
racial and ethnic composition; (2) Other child development and child care
programs that are serving Head Start eligible children, including publicly
funded State and local preschool programs, and the approximate number
of Head Start eligible children served by each;
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(3) The estimated number of children with disabilities four years old or
younger, including types of disabilities and relevant services and
resources provided to these children by community agencies;
1305.3 Determining Community Strengths and Needs.
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(4) Data regarding the education, health, nutrition and social service
needs of Head Start eligible children and their families;
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(5) The education, health, nutrition and social service needs of Head
Start eligible children and their families as defined by families of Head
Start eligible children and by institutions in the community that serve
young children;
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(6) Resources in the community that could be used to address the needs
of Head Start eligible children and their families, including assessments
of their availability and accessibility.
1305.4 Age of Children and Family Income Eligibility.
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(a) To be eligible for Head Start services, a child must be at least three years old
by the date used to determine eligibility for public school in the community in
which the Head Start program is located, except in cases where the Head Start
program's approved grant provides specific authority to serve younger children.
Examples of such exceptions are programs serving children of migrant families
and Early Head Start programs. (b)(1) At least 90 percent of the children who are
enrolled in each Head Start program must be from low-income families.
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(2) Except as provided in paragraph (b)(3) of this section, up to ten percent of
the children who are enrolled may be children from families that exceed the lowincome guidelines but who meet the criteria that the program has established for
selecting such children and who would benefit from Head Start services.
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(3) A Head Start program operated by an Indian Tribe may enroll more than ten
percent of its children from families whose incomes exceed the low-income
guidelines …
1305.4 Age of Children and Family Income Eligibility.
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(4) Programs which meet the conditions of paragraph (b)(3) of this section must
annually set criteria that are approved by the Policy Council and the Tribal Council
for selecting over-income children who would benefit from such a program.
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(c) The family income must be verified by the Head Start program before
determining that a child is eligible to participate in the program.
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d) Verification must include examination of any of the following: Individual
Income Tax Form 1040, W-2 forms, pay stubs, pay envelopes, written statements
from employers, or documentation showing current status as recipients of public
assistance.
1305.5 Recruitment of Children.
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(a) In order to reach those most in need of Head Start services, each Head Start
grantee and delegate agency must develop and implement a recruitment process
that is designed to actively inform all families with Head Start eligible children
within the recruitment area of the availability of services… This process may
include canvassing the local community, use of news releases and advertising,
and use of family referrals and referrals from other public and private agencies.
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(b) During the recruitment process that occurs prior to the beginning of the
enrollment year, a Head Start program must solicit applications from as many
Head Start eligible families within the recruitment area as possible. If necessary,
the program must assist families in filling out the application form in order to
assure that all information needed for selection is completed.
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(c) Each program, except migrant programs, must obtain a number of
applications during the recruitment process that occurs prior to the beginning of
the enrollment year that is greater than the enrollment opportunities that are
anticipated to be available [over the course of the next enrollment year]… in order
to select those with the greatest need for Head Start services.
1305.7 Enrollment and Reenrollment.
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c) If a child has been found income eligible and is participating in a Head Start
program, he or she remains income eligible through that enrollment year and
the immediately succeeding enrollment year. Children who are enrolled in a
program receiving funds under the authority of section 645A of the Head Start
Act (programs for families with infants and toddlers, or Early Head Start)
remain income eligible while they are participating in the program … When a
child moves from a program serving infants and toddlers to a Head Start program
serving children age three and older, the family income must be re-verified.
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If one agency operates both an Early Head Start and a Head Start program, and
the parents wish to enroll their child who has been enrolled in the agency's
Early Head Start program, the agency must ensure, whenever possible, that the
child receives Head Start services until enrolled in school.
1305.7 Enrollment and Reenrollment.
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(a) Each child enrolled in a Head Start program, except those enrolled in a
migrant program, must be allowed to remain in Head Start until kindergarten or
first grade is available for the child in the child’s community, except that the
Head Start program may choose not to enroll a child when there are compelling
reasons for the child not to remain in Head Start, such as when there is a change in
the child’s family income and there is a child with a greater need for Head Start
services.
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(b) A Head Start grantee must maintain its funded enrollment level. When a
program determines that a vacancy exists, no more than 30 calendar days may
elapse before the vacancy is filled. A program may elect not to fill a vacancy
when 60 calendar days or less remain in the program's enrollment year.
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What Are the Key Data Needed for Making Decisions?
Health and Human Services Income and Poverty Guidelines
(www.acf.hhs.gov)
Census Data (factfinder2.census.gov)
Various Child and Family Service and Outcome Data
American Community Survey (factfinder2.census.gov)
Other Applicable State, Regional and Local Agency Data
1. Health and Nutrition (USDA)
6. State Health (SC DHEC)
2. Local Government Statistics
7. Community Health Centers
3. Community Services
8. Social Services
4. Disabilities and Special Needs
9. Private Foundations
5. Social Services
10. Other Key Federal Data
What Are the Key Questions That Should
Be Answered to Complete the Community Needs Assessment and Make
Sound Staffing and Fiscal Decisions?
1.
How many families meet the current Head Start criteria based on current
federal poverty guidelines?
2.
Are these families concentrated in certain communities or neighborhoods
in our Service Area?
3.
What age group of (Early) Head Start children has grown (or declined)
over the past year (or since the last needs assessment was completed)?
4.
Where within the Waccamaw Service Area do the current age group of
growing (declining) children live?
5.
Is there a match or a mismatch between growing (declining) population
of children relative to the location of the families?
6.
Where are the key human, social, health and family service providers
located relative to the Head Start population?
The Waccamaw EOC, Inc. CSBG Programs:
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Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
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Emergency Crisis Intervention Program
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Project Share
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[USDA] Summer Food Service
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Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP)
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Other Programs That Assist Individuals and Families in Achieving Self
Sufficiency
Federal and State Regulations [Can] Dictate How CSBG Funds Are
Allocated and Spent Across the Service Area (SC EOC Mandates)
(1)
Funds made available through this (CSBG) grant or allotment will be used:
(a) To support activities that are designed to assist low-income families and
individuals, including families and individuals receiving assistance under part
A of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), homeless families
and individuals, migrant or seasonal farm workers, and elderly low-income
individuals and families to enable the families and individuals to:
(i) remove obstacles and solve problems that block the achievement of selfsufficiency (including self-sufficiency for families and individuals who are
attempting to transition off a State program carried out under part A of title IV of
the Social Security Act); (ii) secure and retain meaningful employment; (iii)
attain an adequate education, with particular attention toward improving
literacy skills of low-income families in the communities involved, which may
include carrying out family literacy initiatives;
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iii. youth development and intervention models (such as models involving youth
mediation, youth mentoring, life skills training, job creation, and
entrepreneurship programs); and after-school child care programs; and
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(iv) To make more effective use of, and to coordinate with, other programs
(including State welfare reform efforts). ['676(b)(1)]
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(v) make better use of available income;
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(vi) obtain and maintain adequate housing and a suitable living environment;
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(vii) obtain emergency assistance through loans, grants, or other means to meet
immediate and urgent family and individual needs…. ;
(b), To address the needs of youth in low-income communities through youth
development programs that support the primary role of the family, give priority
to the prevention and reduction of youth problems and crime, and promote
increased community coordination and collaboration in meeting the needs of
youth …
Community Services Block Grant Program Implementation
(1)
Program Overview: Describe the following using information provided to the
State by eligible entities, as required under Section 676(b)(2) of the Act:
(a) The Service Delivery System
A description of the service delivery system for services provided or coordinated
with funds made available through grants made to eligible entities with
restricted funds, targeted to low-income individuals and families in
communities within the State. Include a description of the geographical area
served and a listing of eligible entities (grantees) and service areas.
(b) Linkages
A description of how linkages will be developed by local entities to fill identified
gaps in services, through the provision of information, referrals, case
management, and follow up consultations.
CSBG Program Implementation Through Data and Information
(c) Coordination with Other Public and Private Resources
A description of how funds made available through grants to eligible entities will
be coordinated with other public and private resources.
(d) Innovative Community and Neighborhood-based Initiatives
A description of how local entities will use the funds to support innovative
community and neighborhood-based initiatives related to the purposes of the
CSBG, which may include fatherhood initiatives and other initiatives with the
goal of strengthening families and encouraging effective parenting.
(2) Community Needs Assessments
Describe how the State will comply with the following assurance in '676(b)(11):
The State will secure from each eligible entity in the State, as a condition to
receipt of funding by the entity, a community action plan … that includes a
(coordinated) community-needs assessment for the community served...
Key Questions
Minimum Statistical Data Needed
1. How many families meet the current
CSBG Program criteria based on
current federal poverty guidelines?
1. Population
2. Where within the Service Area do
families live that qualify for and
receive CSBG Program services?
3. Families and Relationship
3. How many families qualify for and
how many families receive more
than one CSBG Program service?
4. What times of the year is CSBG
Program service demands most
frequent?
2. Households and Families
4. Household and Family
Relationship Household Income
5. Income
6. Poverty
7. Agency and Partner Data
Key Questions of the ROMA
Data Considerations
1. What is our current program
mission for CSBG (and each core
funded program)?
1. What are the types of data we
currently use to define our
mission?
2. What are the current community
needs related to our programs? Who
are our customers and who are the
key agency partners?
2. Which data do we use to
identify and assess community
needs?
3. What are the [planned] outcomes we
want to achieve based on the
identified community needs?
3. Is the data we use tied to
measurable outcomes?
4.
Which strategies we want to use to
achieve our planned outcomes?
5. What is our implementation and
evaluation plan to achieve our stated
outcomes?
4. What other tools do we use to
achieve our program outcomes?
5. Does our data enable us to
properly evaluate our outcomes?
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