Today we have a re-broadcast on the Needs & Strengths Assessment! If you’d like to read another blog on the original podcast, click here.
For a brief synopsis, though, we examine the What, How, and Why.
What are Needs & Strengths Assessments?
Needs Assessment: A Needs Assessment examines what the needs are in a community or around a topic. An example could be there is a high need in the community for people in recovery to have a living wage and therefore need to attend more supportive services to help them reach their goal.
Strengths Assessment: A Strengths Assessment seeks to identify what the existing strengths are in a community or around a topic. An example could be that there are plenty of supportive services for people in recovery in the community, however transportation is the main missing key.
How do you Conduct Needs & Strengths Assessments?
There are a variety of ways to gather information via Needs & Strengths Assessments. See the full article for more information, or better yet listen to the podcast!
- Surveys (open-ended questions)
- Surveys (pre-determined questions)However, we are also officially six months into the 2019! If you have not done your semi-annual review and goal setting, make sure y
- Surveys (mixture)
- Online Surveys or in-Person or Over the Phone
- Social Media Polls
- Focus Groups
Why do you Conduct a Needs & Strengths Assessment?
These assessments are vital for a number of reasons, including:
- Utilize results for grants
- Publish results on website
- Share results on social media
- Create relationships with beneficiaries
- Guide development of projects
- Demonstrate real need and real solutions
- Share findings with donors/funding sources/etc.
- Creates validity for your projects
- And more!
