Community Assessment

Community assessment refers to the process of determining the needs and resources possessed by a community in order to understand it better. It provides enough information regarding the community, such that the needs and resources that the community has can be used to plan and deliver services to the community successfully (The community needs assessment process, 2004). Community assessment is done under the premise that community has both needs and assets. The needs of the community are the ones that lead it requiring help from external sources, while the assets make it easier to provide the needed services and can even be used for the benefit of other communities apart from the one that is getting assessed. This paper touches on the procedure

This common aspect can be in a form of culture, religion, government or a geographical place. The major categories used when defining a community entail the functional part of the community and the geographical component of the same community. For the purpose of this assessment, the consideration made in describing the community chosen is the geographical location. This is because a group of persons that live in close proximity tend to have similar habits and are likely to have similar issues and resources as well. This makes easier to assess and define the needs and assets of that group of people (The community needs assessment process, 2004). The community in particular that is considered in this assessment is one living in the outskirts of a city. This is a community that has preferred having their homes away from the noisy city centre. This often happens after they start a family, and they would like to raise their children in an environment that is friendly for their

The reason for choosing this mixed approach is to ensure that the advantages of each approach are exploited fully while the drawbacks of either are minimised (Berkowitz, 1982). The assessment of the needs of the community helps in informing an activist of the gaps that exist and have a significant impact on the lives of the members of the community. Community needs tend to affect varying numbers of the members of the community. The more the members affected by a need, the higher the urgency to have that need met as opposed to having only a small number of the members of the community affected by a need. Community assets are the resources or things than can be used to improve the quality of life for the members of the community. The assets can come in the form of the people in the community, partnerships, facilities, policies, collective experience of the community and the regulations in place. This asset identified within the community can be used to provide the services required or facilitate providing solutions to the problems or needs identified in the community. The need to use the mixed approach in this assessment is to ensure that the resources found within the community are used to solve the needs of the community, which is far easier compared to having to source externally for solutions to the needs of a localised