What, Why, and How to do a Needs and Strengths Assessment

Today we have a re-broadcast on the Needs & Strengths Assessment! If you’d like to read another blog on the original podcast, click here.

For a brief synopsis, though, we examine the What, How, and Why.

What are Needs & Strengths Assessments?

Needs Assessment: A Needs Assessment examines what the needs are in a community or around a topic. An example could be there is a high need in the community for people in recovery to have a living wage and therefore need to attend more supportive services to help them reach their goal.

Strengths Assessment: A Strengths Assessment seeks to identify what the existing strengths are in a community or around a topic. An example could be that there are plenty of supportive services for people in recovery in the community, however transportation is the main missing key.

How do you Conduct Needs & Strengths Assessments?

There are a variety of ways to gather information via Needs & Strengths Assessments. See the full article for more information, or better yet listen to the podcast!

• Surveys (open-ended questions)
• Surveys (pre-determined questions)However, we are also officially six months into the 2019! If you have not done your semi-annual review and goal setting, make sure y
• Surveys (mixture)
• Online Surveys or in-Person or Over the Phone
• Social Media Polls
• Focus Groups

Why do you Conduct a Needs & Strengths Assessment?

These assessments are vital for a number of reasons, including:

• Utilize results for grants
• Publish results on website
• Share results on social media
• Create relationships with beneficiaries
• Guide development of projects
• Demonstrate real need and real solutions
• Share findings with donors/funding sources/etc.
• Creates validity for your projects
• And more!