COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE
METHODOLOGY and 1998 ACTION PLAN
March 1998

PROPOSED METHODOLOGY

The community assessment methodology adopted by the CCB in September 1997 is designed to support movement towards the vision of "an uninterrupted, integrated system of services through which individuals are able to have their needs met in a responsible and effective manner." It also recognizes four desired characteristics of the future service delivery system: progression from coordination to collaboration; designed for the customer; accountable, results-oriented; and effective communication process.

Key features of the proposed Community Assessment Information Clearinghouse for health, education and human services are listed below.

• The clearinghouse will build on the survey and preliminary information gathered as part of the CCB's Critique of the 1995 Needs Assessment, completed in June, 1997.
• In the initial phase, data will be collected in conjunction with the organizational profiles, which will reduce the number of different surveys agencies must fill out.
• Information will be gathered and made available on recent, current and planned activities related to needs assessments, including research, benchmarking, surveys, focus groups, resource inventories, asset mapping, and program monitoring and evaluation.
• As the Broward Information Network (BIN) is brought on-line, clearinghouse information will be integrated through a standard form that each organization should post and periodically update.
• The clearinghouse will be made available through a published report and through posting on a temporary host home page until the BIN is fully implemented.

Key components of the proposed 1998 Action Plan are:

• approval of this proposed methodology by April, 1998;
• development and adoption of a standard survey form by July, 1998; and
• collection and tabulation of data from the first set of organizational profiles through November, 1998, and delivery of a report to the CCB.

• Socio-Economic and Demographic Databases – produce consensus demographic profiles and projections for use in human service planning.
• Surveys - surveys to be undertaken and recent survey data available related to human services, including surveys of the population, clients, funders and providers.
• Focus Groups and Key Informant Interviews – input from specific groups (outreach to obtain input from special needs populations and hidden populations).
• Issue Scanning – identification of chronic and emerging issues.
• Review of Agency Plans and Other Reports – needs identification, resources, analysis, priorities.

The adopted community assessment methodology is presented conceptually in Figure 1 – Components of the Community Assessment Methodology. The diagram identifies not only components which are assumed to be part of the community assessment, but also components needed to ensure that the assessment serves the function of supporting decision-making by the CCB and community stakeholder groups.

The large number of public and private organizations involved in different aspects of community assessment suggests that there may be many opportunities for coordination and collaboration in conducting these information-gathering activities. The community assessment methodology recognizes that as the Broward Information Network is fully implemented, an increasing portion of annual information gathering will be possible on-line. However, until then, there is a need for a central point of contact where opportunities for coordination can be promoted. The Community Assessment Information Clearinghouse (CAIC) is proposed to meet this need. It is envisioned both as a place where information about recently completed, current and planned activities can be shared, and as a place where the actual products of those activities also can be made available.

The CCB's Critique of the 1995 Needs Assessment (June 1997) presents the results of a survey conducted to learn about needs assessment activities by the primary funders and providers of health, education and human services in Broward County. The 172 organizations whose responses were tabulated include 69 that conducted some kind of a needs assessment. More than half of these did so at least annually. The majority (86%) conducted the needs assessment to support development of an agency plan; more than a third were required to do so by a funding source.

The methods utilized in conducting needs assessments included surveys (83%), data compilation and analyses (62%), interviews (45%) and focus groups (36%). Of the 57 respondents who applied surveys, most surveyed clients (83%), but close to half surveyed providers. The most popular format for gathering data was hard copy (58%), although databases (42%) and other computer files (23%) were used by many of the respondents.

The CCB survey asked respondents to identify the five most critical data/information needs of the organization pertaining to a needs assessment. The 266 answers provided by 72 respondents were classified in 13 categories. More than half of all the responses fell into three major categories:

• the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the population (age, race/ethnic, income, employment, housing characteristics, etc.), including specific characteristics and incidence/prevalence rates related to service areas (health, crime, education, etc.), and projected trends;
• service availability and agency resources; and
• service needs, gaps in services, the duplication of services and identification of priorities.

The Community Assessment Information Clearinghouse is proposed in order to provide a comprehensive and systematic source of information about community assessment activities related to health, education and human services in Broward County. The primary components of the proposed methodology are described below.

• The Community Assessment Committee will review the survey form and the database structure developed for the previous survey to determine how they can be used in developing the new form and database.
• Responses from the earlier survey identified 69 organizations that conduct some sort of needs assessment activity in Broward County. Some of these organizations will be selected to provide input on the design of the clearinghouse. They also may be asked to help test the form prior to final approval.
• The critical data and information needs identified by the agencies previously surveyed will be considered in the design of the clearinghouse.

• Socio-Economic and Demographic Analysis - A variety of estimates and projections of population for Broward County are produced annually by federal, state and local entities. Based on differing assumptions and methodologies, these estimates and projections produce different numbers for the county's population. State estimates for the county and its municipalities (published by the UF Bureau of Economic and Business Research) are "official" in that they are used for revenue-sharing. Smaller sub-county estimates (i.e., for census tracts) typically are available only from the Broward County Office of Strategic Planning and Growth Management. The clearinghouse initially will identify the source of socio-economic and demographic data used by each organization and any external requirements for consistency. This should enable a discussion of how to develop a set of consistent estimates and projections to be used in human service planning by agencies in Broward County.
• Indicators and Benchmarks - Organizations will be encouraged to coordinate with the CCB's Quality-of-Life Committee to add to and, where appropriate, revise The Broward Benchmarks. This coordination should ensure that goals adopted by the CCB, expressed in terms of the corresponding indicators, are consistent with the organization's strategic planning goals. The clearinghouse will identify organizations that are using or developing indicators, benchmarks and strategic goals, and where copies of any pertinent reports may be obtained.
• Surveys - Surveys are an essential but expensive tool for gathering critical information required for health, education and human service planning in Broward County. When conducted too often or in an uncoordinated fashion, they represent an unfair burden for the organizations or individuals that must respond to them. Many opportunities exist for coordinating survey work, whether it addresses the entire population, clients of the human service delivery system, funders or providers. The clearinghouse will identify surveys that have been completed recently or are being planned in order to facilitate collaborative efforts.
• Focus Groups and Key Informant Interviews - Focus groups and key informant interviews usually are directed at specific target groups and have narrowly defined objectives, which makes it harder to turn them into collaborative efforts among organizations. Even so, the published results of such information gathering provide important background information and should be made available to other interested parties. The clearinghouse will identify any such activities and the resulting reports that have been prepared, as well as any planned activities of this type.
• Resource Inventories and Asset Mapping - The CCB's Countywide Resource Inventory will provide aggregate information about resource allocation in Broward County. Once fully implemented, it should enable some analysis to be conducted of resources available in specific geographic areas and for specific target populations. However, more focused projects such as the neighborhood pilot projects, will continue to require more specific information than will be found in the countywide resource inventory. It is essential to coordinate resource inventories and asset mapping among agencies involved in funding and providing services in these areas or to target populations. The clearinghouse will gather information about all such activities and promote collaborative planning, as well as the sharing of results.
• Program Monitoring and Evaluation - In order to support the efforts of the CCB's Joint Monitoring Committee, the clearinghouse will collect information on program monitoring activities undertaken by the funders of health, education and human services (frequency, periodicity, participants, locations and scope). In addition, any activities related to program evaluation also will be identified.
• Issue Scanning and Visioning - Agencies often conduct issue scanning as part of a strategic planning effort, in order to identify emerging new issues that require immediate attention, as well as chronic issues that continue to require targeted effort to resolve. Visioning is frequently used as a technique to help an agency or a community better define strategic goals. The clearinghouse will collect information on this type of activity to promote sharing of the results.

• The standardized organizational profiles planned for the countywide resource inventory will be the primary mechanism for gathering information about needs assessment activities from entities that participate in the funding and provision of health, education and human services in Broward County. An additional form will be attached to the organizational profiles, although this information will be tabulated separately. Organizations will be requested to provide information about community assessment activities for the specific set of services they provide or fund, and keep that information updated on at least an annual basis.
• Distinct organizational profiles are planned for funders, on the one hand, and service providers, on the other. In principle, the information to be requested of each of these types of organizations should be the same, making it possible to use a single form to gather information about Community Assessment activities from both.
• The Community Assessment Committee will develop the draft form, and will bring it to the Steering Committee and the CCB for review. Once adopted, the form will become part of the "shared" information maintained by each organization that participates in the Broward Information Network.

• A Memorandum of Understanding is proposed for signature by members of the CCB. It will commit CCB members to require that standardized organizational profiles, including the information for the clearinghouse, be provided and updated at least annually by all organizations that wish to be funded or have access to the Broward Information Network. It also will require that the standardized organizational profile be accepted by funders and other participants in the Broward Information Network to meet the requirements for equivalent information in grant applications, needs assessments, surveys and monitoring activities.
• The draft Memorandum of Understanding will be presented to the Steering Committee and the CCB in conjunction with the draft standardized organizational profiles for approval at the same time.

• A temporary database will be necessary to gather and tabulate information from the Community Assessment Information Clearinghouse because only some of the organizations involved in the funding and provision of health, education and human services in Broward County will be integrated into the Broward Information Network in the first few years.
• The development and maintenance of this temporary database will have to be undertaken by an organization to be selected by the CCB, and will entail the actual design of the database, development of input and tabulation applications, data input and the preparation of reports as needed.
• The Community Assessment Committee will develop a conceptual design for the temporary database structure for data intake and tabulation, including specification of the necessary applications and a proposal for the implementation of the Community Assessment Information Clearinghouse. Actual implementation will require separate funding. The proposal will be taken to the Steering Committee and the CCB for approval and for funding.

• The agency that temporarily hosts the Community Assessment Information Clearinghouse will oversee its implementation, with support from the Community Assessment Committee. This will include development of the database and associated applications, as well as consistency checks for the information. These activities will require resources that have not yet been committed.
• The Community Assessment Committee will identify organizations with relevant roles within the health, education and human service delivery system where the clearinghouse could be hosted, and bring recommendations to the Steering Committee and the CCB.
• The temporary host agency will be required to work with the CCB's Executive Director to ensure that the clearinghouse is posted on an appropriate Internet Home Page.

• Development of the Community Assessment Information Clearinghouse will be undertaken prior to full implementation of Broward County's shared information network. It is for this reason that a temporary host for the clearinghouse will be required. However, once the primary funders and providers of health, education and human services in Broward County have begun to participate in the Broward Information Network, the clearinghouse will become a component of the network. A report form on community assessment activities will become a required element of shared information for each participant, and the aggregation of data for the clearinghouse will be accomplished by authorized users through network applications.

CCB = Coordinating Council of Broward
CAC = Community Assessment Committee
SFRPC = South Florida Regional Planning Council