PLAN ELEMENTS: COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Reviewing county-specific data related to issues and needs faced by children, families, and local communities in regard to child abuse and neglect helps define the priorities and focus areas of the county Prevention Plan. In addition to  highlighting risk factors in the community, the Community Needs Assessment also includes of protective factors in the community, dis-aggregated data to reflect areas of disproportionate impact, and data on equity of access to services and opportunities. Strategies TA will assist the county team to identify baseline data sources and analyze data to define community strengths and needs.

Resources for Analyzing Your California Community Needs

Click the links below to investigate data for specific California counties.

The Community Opportunity Map from Casey Family Programs

The Community Opportunity Map is an interactive tool that highlights the aspects of communities that are associated with safe children and strong families.

    • Research-based framework with select community indicators
    • Available for any community in the nation to use
    • Most indicators are pulled from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey
    • Informed by significant evidence of the community factors correlated with child maltreatment and a healthy community framework developed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
    • Maps community indicators at geographic levels defined by the user, from the state level down to neighborhoods.
    • Check out the training videos to learn the different ways this tool can help you to understand a variety of data from local neighborhoods to the entire county.

OCAP Data Dashboards

Comprehensive dashboard of data for each California County.  Navigate to each page for a separate topic, then select the county.

Kids Data

Data available by demographic groups, county, legislative district, and other topics.

California Child Welfare Indicators Project

Data available by demographics of age, race, county.  Includes child and family service review indicators, CWS outcomes, rates for allegations, and more.

Kids Count Data Center

With California selected as the location select topics to view indicator data. From the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

ACES Connection County Data Dashboards

Combines Essentials of Early Childhood with Kids Data to provide county by county dashboards that compare to the state of California.

Children Now

Thirty-six indicators broken down by county.  Contains a scorecard for each county.

National Equity Atlas

The National Equity Atlas is a report card on racial and economic equity. Provides leaders and policymakers with actionable data and strategies to advance racial equity and shared prosperity.

Economics of Child Abuse

Safe and Sound provides a county-by-county list of costs of child abuse and neglect, updated in 2020.

Additional Resources for Community Needs Assessment

Essentials for Childhood Framework

For types of data that can be used for prevention planning, see Goal 2 (beginning on page 14).  From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

DePaul University Asset-Based Community Development Tool Kit

Building community capacity is at the heart of ABCD’s work. The institute leads training workshops and have created a library of community building workbooks, articles, and books.  The tool kit includes asset mapping tools and facilitating tools. From the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at DePaul University.

Clear Impact Asset-Based Community Development Tool Kit

This free e-book includes tools for mapping assets to unlock the gifts in a neighborhood or community. The nine steps outlined within can help achieve greater impact and results by building on the gifts and assets already present.

Connecting the Dots (interactive tool)

Explore relationships between multiple types of violence and the risk and protective factors they share at each level of the social-ecological model. Understanding these connections, and identifying protective factors that can be strengthened in the community, can inform the prevention planning process.

Gap Analysis for Strengths and Needs Assessment

Download this tool to identify the current landscape of prevention services, identify areas of improvement, and envision desired outcomes.