50 Forward

A Snapshot Assessment of Education and Job Opportunities in Your Community

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Stacy Sells

One of the keys to bringing about change is to know where you are right now relative to where you want to be.  A Community Assessment Tool is just that – an organized tool designed to gather information to help you define or identify where your community is and to suggest where it needs to go.  Community assessment tools are used to gather information for various initiatives ranging from public health, transportation, housing and public education.

Community Assessment Process usually looks much like this:

STEP 1:  To begin the assessment process, the first step is to organize a steering committee of key stakeholders to guide the process.  The committee might include educators, parents, elected officials, business stakeholders, economic developers, religious and community service leaders.  Make certain that stakeholders include low-income advocates and those from underserved populations.

STEP 2:  Defining or identifying the community comes next.  In order to assess your public school system, this is usually quite easy as each school district has clear geographic boundaries.

STEP 3: Decide the data and information you will seek.  Some of the basic information to consider for a community assessment focusing on your school and economic development opportunities might include:

• General Demographic Data:  population, per capita income, employment trends.
• Asset Inventory:  Focusing on what the community already has, this is a technique for cataloging local community assets/resources to meet community objectives.  Assets might include schools, current community programs, non-profit organizations and volunteers, business resources and more.
• Educational Data:  Where are you students today and how does this compare with the rest of the state and nation.  Educational data should include k-12 test scores, high school graduation rates, low-income populations, higher education enrollment, and college graduates living in your community,
• Economic Data:  This is where your chamber of commerce and economic development leaders can assist.  Key information here will include successes and missed opportunities for landing economic development projects and the types of jobs required, the skill levels needed for these jobs.

STEP 4:  Prepare the Assessment Tool(s).  Developing your own assessment tool might feel like a daunting process; however, the Internet is a tremendous resource for helping your group build this tool.  There are several methods that can be used for collecting information:  secondary research, state government data sites, surveys and focus group interviews, etc.  If there is a college in your community, this is always a good resource for helping to track down data.

STEP 5:  Implement the community assessment and develop your report.  This will require much time and the larger your team, the easier it will be to implement.  Again, there are many resources on the Internet that can assist with community assessment reports.

When the assessment process is complete, you’ve successfully gathered a clear snapshot of where your community is right now – an important step in planning the direction for your community’s future.

Next post: Online resources for education and economic leaders that will help you put your local assessment tool together.  I’m working on it, hoping it will be helpful and make this important process much simpler.

About Stacy Sells

A second-generation public relations professional, @stacysells thrives on the business of strategic communications that promote, publicize, develop collaborative efforts, build goodwill and respond to crisis. Public and private sector clients hire Stacy for her ability to develop strategic plans, define effective messages, persuade public opinion and influence the media. Stacy is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America and a member of the prestigious PRSA Counselor's Academy. Stacy’s passion has long been connecting the education and business communities. In her spare time, she is involved with countless community efforts that focus on public education reform and economic development. She currently serves on the board of directors of Accelerate Arkansas, Single Parent Scholarship Fund and KIPP Delta Public Schools, and on the board of trustees of Philander Smith College. Stacy served as co-chairman of the Arkansas Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Education (2001-2002), chairman of the board of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce (2003-2004), Education Commission of the States (2004-2006). In 2003, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families honored Stacy as their "Child Advocate of the Year." Stacy is a native Arkansan, a graduate of Hendrix College and was honored by the Hendrix College Alumni Association with the 2007 Humanitarian Award for her community service and dedication to humanity. View all posts by Stacy Sells → This entry was posted in Education and tagged Community Assessment. Bookmark the permalink.