VII. Developing Your Program

A. Community Needs

Assessment

Earlier we talked about the importance of understanding family literacy, both for your own knowledge and in order to inform and persuade others of its value. Another important type of information for developing a family literacy project deals with understanding your community. You need to know what programs and services already exist in the way of literacy, family support, parenting, and school-based initiatives. You also need to know who participates in these programs and uses these services. What are the needs in the community that relate to family literacy? What needs are already being met and which are not?

This type of information may already have been researched and compiled, perhaps by your local literacy organization or other service agencies and coalitions. If not, it's important to do a community needs assessment so that the program you develop will be suited to the needs and resources of your particular community.

What is a community needs assessment? It is a systematic way of identifying needs in the community that relate to literacy, early childhood education, and family support. These needs are identified by obtaining input from a cross-section of individuals and agencies in the community. This process is positive in that, in the end, it focuses on the needs of the community as a whole rather than the needs of specific individuals.

A community needs assessment also identifies existing programs and services in the community that relate to the identified needs, as well as programs and services that would complement a family literacy program. These might include parenting and family resource programs; literacy, adult basic education, and English as a Second Language programs; or library drop-in programs for children and families.

By involving community agencies and individuals, a needs assessment builds ownership, support, and awareness among stakeholders, and follows the principles of community collaboration and cooperation. It gauges the level of support for the proposed program, and determines similarities and differences in how literacy needs are perceived.

Through examining literacy needs in context, the needs assessment ensures that realistic expectations are set for the proposed project and the role it can play in helping individuals and agencies. It can also provide a strong foundation for developing related programs and other strategies for literacy improvement in the community.

Community Needs Assessment Guidelines

(Many of the ideas for community needs assessments came from Yvon Laberge of HOPE Learning Systems in Edmonton.)

Consider the following as guidelines for developing a formal needs assessment:

1. Develop goals and objectives.

It is very important that you decide what information you want to obtain before proceeding with a needs assessment. If you are not sure of your goals and objectives, proceeding will probably not be worth the effort and resources involved. An unfocused needs assessment will result in general information, but will not provide specific answers to your questions.