B.O.C.E.S. Cayuga Onondaga Board of Cooperative Education Cayuga County Youth Bureau Cayuga Home Cayuga/Seneca County Action Agency (C/SCAA) Child Care Council of the Finger Lakes, Inc. (CCCFL) City Planning: Auburn Planning and Economic Department Confidential Help For Alcohol and Drugs (C.H.A.D.) Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Cayuga County Employment and Training Freedom Recreation Cayuga County Health Department Cayuga County Office for the Aging United Way of Cayuga County Unity House of Cayuga County Partners for a Healthy Community (PFAHC)** Cayuga County Community Health Network (CCCHN)
1. Who Requires the Assessment? Special Education Training and Resource Center (SETRC) at BOCES is mandated to do a "needs" assessment with a variety of groups. The New York State Division for Youth (Children and Family Services). No one. Several Funding sources. The only needs assessment we have done is 7 years old and was to find out the need for regulated childcare supply and demand. since that time, City Planning, centers and employers have been canvassed for indepentant need. City of Auburn via the office of Planning and Economic Development. Cayuga County Community Services board. Cornell Cooperative Extension Administration. Annual Plan required by the New York State Department of Labor. We are moving forward on recommendations put forth in the needs assessment that was done by the United Way a couple of years ago. New York State Department of Health. Mandated by the State Office for Aging under guidelines of the Older Americans Act and incorporated in our annual implementation plan. Our Board of Directors. State of New York: OMRDD, OMH The Cayuga County Department of Health and Human Services under a grant from the New York State Department of Health. The CCCHN's mission, briefly paraphrased, is to improve the health status of Cayuga County's residents. Our health needs assessment is less of a "requirement" than it is a logical starting point for the development of our current objectives and activities that are related to the CCCHN's mission. It was decided during the agency's first grant yearthat a CCCHN-designed assesment was logical and integral to the development of a strategic approach to assess and improve the County's health care delivery system.
2. How Frequently Is It Required? After every training. Needs assessment is required every 3-4 years. We need to have access to county-wide data. Depends on the funding source. Anywhere from a complete assessment every 3 years with yearly updates, to complete updates every 5 years with a yearly plan of action. It is required when a center is thinking of expanding or a new one is built. Major needs assessment every 5 years. updates and new Action Plans every year. Yearly. Formally every 4 years. Informally every 2 years. Yearly. We are moving to make the community more aware of our services by approaching their particular support groups and putting on a presentation to the public. Currently every 2 years, thinking of changing it to every 5 years. Required every 4 years updated annually. once every 5 years - should be done every 3 years or annually. Annually. This is an initial assessment and can be updated upon annual grant renewal. New assessment will be as warrented. This assessment should be updated in some fashion every 3 or 4 years, at a minimum, to ensure that our community health intervention(s)are current and responsive to changing health needs.
3. What Data Is Needed? District survey or staff training needs (9 school districts, SETRC support). Parent input. Perceived needs as well as expressed needs dealing with youth. We need to know the number of children placed per year, ages of those children and services offered to families prior to placement. Otherwise we need crime stats, poverty levels and educational levels. Needs of low income community. (children, child care, nutrition-food, housing, shelter, teens, parenting, education, etc. Ages of children, number of those needing child care, hours of care needed, employer data, that they can afford to pay: income ranges. Census data - inspections-public generated. Anything else generated by other agencies and from other needs assessments. Gaps in service in the alcohol and substance abuse service network. Information that points to individual, family and community needs. Labor market information, area labor trends, demographic data, wage and placement data, training providers and cost, etc. We are very small and cannot afford to do our own assessment. We do an evaluation of all programs with parents and staff to see how we can better meet the needs of the community. We implement whatever we can on the limited resources we have. Vital Statistics, disease, morbidity and mortality rates, census information, health department activities for dental, child health, lead, maternal health, family planning, T.B., nutrition, etc. Health concerns as they affect the elderly: caregiver needs, legal concerns, transportation concerns, home repair/weatherization issues, housing options - subsidized or un subsidized , financial/entitlement programs. Information on the Human and Health needs within the community. Consultant. Community perceptions of need and possible solutions/remedies/actions. Quantitative and qualitative data that is complimentary and fosters validity and sense-aking respectively, so that strategic community health decisions are theoretically and practically justifiable and lend themselves to the CCCHN's responsibility to be accountable to the communities that it serves. The CCCHN and/or it's designees regularly surveys select community groups in support of 5 objectives that are part of the CCCHN's second year funding cycle (October, 1998 - June, 1999)
 
 B.O.C.E.S. Cayuga Onondaga Board of Cooperative Education Cayuga County Youth Bureau Cayuga Home Cayuga/Seneca County Action Agency (C/SCAA) Child Care Council of the Finger Lakes, Inc. (CCCFL) City Planning: Auburn Planning and Economic Department Confidential Help For Alcohol and Drugs (C.H.A.D.) Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Cayuga County Employment and Training Freedom Recreation Cayuga County Health Department Cayuga County Office for the Aging United Way of Cayuga County Unity House of Cayuga County Partners for a Healthy Community (PFAHC)** Cayuga County Community Health Network (CCCHN)
4. Which Approaches Do You Currently Use To Acquire Data Needed?

Primary sources: Surveys of the general population / subpopulation / key informants / service providers /service recipients as well asorganized public meetings & group-think.

Secondary sources: Service statistics & review of budgets.

Primary sources: Survey's of the subpopulation/key informants/service providers.

Secondary sources: service statistics & needs data identified by other planning systems.

Primary sources: Survey's of the general population / subpopulation / key informants / service recipients.

Secondary sources: social indicators / inventory of resources / needs data identified by other planning systems / review of budgets.

Primary sources: Survey's of general population / subpopulati on / key informants / service providers / staff and board members & service recipients as well as organized public meetings & group think.

Secondary sources: service statistics / social indicators / projections of economicdemographic data / inventory of resources / needs data identified by other planning systems & review of budgets.

Primary sources: Specific surveys to define child care needs.

Secondary sources: inventory of resources & needs data identified by other planning svstems.

Primary sources: Survey's of key informants (via meetings) / survey of service providers & organized public meetings.

Secondary sources: service statistics / projections of economic-demographic data / inventory of resources / needs identified by other planning systems & review of budgets.

Primary sources: Survey's of key informants / organized public meetings & group-think.

Secondary sources: needs data identified by other planning systems & review of budgets.

Primary sources: Survey's of subpopulations / survey of key informants / organized public meetings & group-think.

Secondary sources: social indicators / projections of economic-demographic data / inventory of resources & needs data identified by other planning systems.

Primary sources: Survey's of general population / subpopulation / service providers / employers & service recipients.

Secondary sources: service statistics / social indicators / projections of economic demographic data & review of budgets.
N/A

Primary sources: Survey's of key informants / service providers / service recipients & organized group meetings & group-think.

Secondary sources: epidemiological studies / service statistics / social indicators / projections of economic demographic data / inventory of resources / needs data identified by other planning systems & review of budgets.

Primary sources: Survey's of general population / subpopulation / key informants / service providers / service recipients & organized public meetings & group-think.

Secondary sources: service statistics / social indicators / projections of economic demographic data / inventory of resources / needs data identified by other planning systems & review of budgets.

Primary sources: Survey's of general population / subpopulation / key informants & service providers.

Secondary sources: service statistics / social indicators / projections of economic demographic data / inventory of resources & review of budgets.

Primary sources: Survey's of general population / subpopulation / key informants / service providers / service recipients & organized group meetings.

Secondary sources: N/A.

Primary Sources: Survey's of subpopulation / key informants / service providers / service recipients & organized public meetings.

Secondary Sources: epidemiological studies / service statistics / social indicators / projections of economy demographic data / inventory of resources & needs data identified by other planning systems.

Primary Sources: Survey's of general population / subpopulati on /key informants / service providers / service recipients & other - satisfaction surveys to CCCHN service / product recipients.

Secondary Sources: epidemiological studies/service statistics / social indicators / projections of economicdemographic data / inventory of resources / needs data identified by other planning systems & review of budgets.
5. If All Approaches Could Be Available For Your Use, Which Ones Could You Benefit From That You Did Not Circle?
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 Service Statics and Socal Indicators We could use general population survey data, but it isn't mandatory for our process. If we were able to coordinate with another agency/process to pick up some of our questions, it could contribute to the process. Survey of Service Recipients. General population survey.
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 General population survey & Survey of subpopulations. Epidemiological studies.
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 Organized group meetings & Review of Budgets.
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 First, the term "groupthink" (#4a.7.) is understood by this respondent to be a theoretical construct, but not as a source of data per se; do you mean to say "focus group"? Otherwise, the CCCHN currently will benefit from the utilization of most, if not all, of the data sources listed. Also, I am inferring that the term "organized public meeting" includes a survey used with subpopulations. Public meetings can provide anecdotal information, which could be useful if the "assessor" is in the role of participant observer.
6. What Sources Are Accessed To Provide The Data "List Specifically"? Nine school district plans for staff/parent training submitted each September. Youth, Service Providers, Adults. Use information from the United Way, Kids Count, and City of Auburn. US Census Bureau, various state and local government sources, general population, housing, employment and poverty trends in Cayuga and Seneca Counties. Employers, employees, DSS, census data. Whatever we come upon. Census data is primary because of HUD's reliance on it. Public input contributes. Numerous referral sources in Cayuga County such as, DSS, Probation, DFY, etc.
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 Labor Departments (Federal, State, Local) Educational Facilities, Economic Development Agencies, Community Based and Human Service Agencies, etc.
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 Service statistics, census data. Client data, senior clubs, 1990 census, provider organization. Any agenda in the county that has data public / private or not for profits. Surveys are usually random. Primary All community organizations needs assessments (done within the previous 2 years), Youth Bureau stats, DHHS stats, and School District stats. If you are requesting information on how our health assessment's data was acquired, we used the following methods: focus groups and key informant interviews.
 
 B.O.C.E.S. Cayuga Onondaga Board of Cooperative Education Cayuga County Youth Bureau Cayuga Home Cayuga/Seneca County Action Agency (C/SCAA) Child Care Council of the Finger Lakes, Inc. (CCCFL) City Planning: Auburn Planning and Economic Department Confidential Help For Alcohol and Drugs (C.H.A.D.) Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Cayuga County Employment and Training Freedom Recreation Cayuga County Health Department Cayuga County Office for the Aging United Way of Cayuga County Unity House of Cayuga County Partners for a Healthy Community (PFAHC)** Cayuga County Community Health Network (CCCHN)
7. How Are The Assessment Results Used? By Whom, For What Purpose? SETRC develops programs, orders resources based on above input from BOCES wide Curriculum Council and individual responses from workshops/training activities. Based on the results of the primary and secondary data, the Cayuga County Youth Bureau will put out a "Request for Proposal" to address the identified needs. Mostly for information to support "need" when writing grants. Results are used to look at current met and unmet needs of the low income population in Cayuga and Seneca County. Also used as a planning tool, as well as in support of the counties future. Used by the Council to plan for expansion for child care, recruitment in targeted areas. Any data we acquire is needed in the needs assessment prepared by the City of Planning & Economic Development and approved by the City Council. The needs assessment directs the Annual Action Plans activities and funding. Future planning by the Community Services board in the area of alcohol and substance abuse treatment and prevention. Used by our staff to determine program direction for a 2-4 year period. Forward to Cornell for review so that as a state-wide system we can identify the commodities. We need to determine which needs we have the resources and staff to address. To plan and develop employment and training programs and services for economically disadvantaged youth, adults, older workers and dislocated workers. Also we operate programs for individuals who are on Public Assistance. N/A 1. County and State Health Department agree on County Health Department program activities that will be funded for the next two years. 2. Educate and inform staff, Legislature, Medical Community, and General Public. A.I.P. reports, budget reports, joint planning and aging services network, public hearings, white pages & writing grants for new programs. They are used to prioritize funding and planning decisions. Board, Administration, State offices. Focus groups identify community issues and potential solutions; existing data is utilized to confirm or refute the perceptions. A).The assessment forms the basis for development of the CCCHN's objectives, interventions, and activities. B). The assessment is utilized by CCCHN staff, Board, consultants, and consumer/ provider work groups alike as a reference that informs discussions, planning sessions, and/or budget related decisions.
8. How Much Money Do You Spend On The Entire Process? $120,000 + in overall budget. No expense.
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 $4,000/font> Average $1 to $2 per servey. All is handled in house but we do contribute a significant amount of staff time to the process for almost 6 months. Very little, more manpower to access and collect data. Not including staff time, $500 ???
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 Approximately $10,000.
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 $32,000 $1,000/year. initial assessment and data gathering - $10K (Estimate). $18,500
9. What Are The Successes and Problems With Your Current Process. None which are not resolved by working with "consumer groups". No personnel to administer the survey in the schools. Lack of state funding to address the identified needs. Information is old usually. Not accurate enough about specific populations. Success: helped the staff, Board of Directors, Policy Council and Adversary Board stay focused on the needs of the community we serve. Problems: time & cost. Low responses to surveys, data inconsistent with other information, inaccurate numbers. We prepare a good plan. We have difficulty maintaining or encouraging public participants (true neighborhood residents, not agency representatives). Current process is efficient and somewhat effective. We are well connected and have a handle on community needs. The process is disconnected from other agencies. Employment and Training programs for identified populations. Problems arise with the beauracratic process. It's no different than any other agency.
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 Success: excellent agreement with NYSDOH for continued funding. Problems: information not fully distributed or utilized to its potential. Success: identified needs have evolved into grant/programs: EISEP day program subsidies, CTC respite, CTC expansion of day programs, expansion of unsubsidized senior base insurance, expected MA applications for SNF's. Problems: tendency to utilize home materials/methods, limited staff/funds for new program summaries, possible duplication or underutilizing of other departments/agencies. Problem: we do not have the funds to conduct another major assessment all by ourselves. We must collaborate. Positive: the last study helped us to move to program funding and positioned ourselves to fund by priority in the future. Cumbersome. Lack of a comprehensive data base which provides data/information on all needs assessment findings. This makes it a labor intensive, hit & miss, proposition to finding existing data. Cooperation from other service providers has been highly variable. Community ownership of the needs identified and community participation in solutions. Our assessment covers a plethora of perspectives that were obtained from informants throughout the county, namely: health consumers, providers, agencies, payors and employers. On the other hand, the design of the assessment is qualitative, as opposed to quantitative, and as result, it could be perceived to lack credibility by certain groups that subscribe to a "traditional" research paradigm wherein qualitative data is viewed as less than "scientific".
 
 B.O.C.E.S. Cayuga Onondaga Board of Cooperative Education Cayuga County Youth Bureau Cayuga Home Cayuga/Seneca County Action Agency (C/SCAA) Child Care Council of the Finger Lakes, Inc. (CCCFL) City Planning: Auburn Planning and Economic Department Confidential Help For Alcohol and Drugs (C.H.A.D.) Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Cayuga County Employment and Training Freedom Recreation Cayuga County Health Department Cayuga County Office for the Aging United Way of Cayuga County Unity House of Cayuga County Partners for a Healthy Community (PFAHC)** Cayuga County Community Health Network (CCCHN)
10. In What Ways Could You Envision Improving Your Process By Some Yype of Collaborative Effort With Other Departments / Organizations? Some formats viewed by many agencies, would allow us to more broadly look at our community needs. Sharing of staff and resources. Many of us are required to do needs assessments, I would advocate that there be a single process at a countywide level. A community wide assessment would assist us all in meeting the needs of families. We would all be working from the same set of information. I can see collaborating easier with this as a tool. Save money, include larger segments of the community, enable the community to have a flexible document to use to document needs and identify avenues for collaboration. By changing the process to include larger segments of the community, we envision improving the process by saving money and time by collaborating. Our questions could be added to another organization. We would differentiate the most appropriate use of our limited public service funding. The document would have more strengths, liability if it were prepared in a community wide effort. 1. Replication of community forums that have been successful for other disability groups. 2. Network of data that can be accessed by all so that work may be reduced. A larger collaborative effort could provide us with a more detailed picture. We are somewhat different from service providers in that we are an educationally-oriented institution (with a research base). We are in contact with many other agencies in developing programs and services. We need to be current with the needs of other agencies and need to work to keep services updated. N/A We would have more and better community input. Sharing work load, improving design of materials, improve cost effectiveness. Problems: due to limited staffing most social service agencies must look carefully at staff involvement in other mandated and direct services. After the results of this survey are matrixed and ready for analysis there will be many: cost sharing, data sharing, avoiding unnecessary duplication of efforts, etc. I also see us as a community being able to improve the "scientific validity" of our need assessment results. N/A A comprehensive, single community assessment. Followed up with organization specific activities depending upon needs of the organizations. A website data base with downloadable findings from all existing assessments. We could partner with an agency(ies) or provider(s) that have experience or an interest in conducting another community health assessment and/or to update our current study in a way that incorporates a quantitative perspective. This approach could provide us with a triangulation design that is complimentary and more comprehensive.
11. Does Your Current Needs Assessment Also Identify Community Strengths / Assets?
 No!
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 No. No! Yes. We have to discuss training issues, notification processes, public hearing mandates, and the City to assess the potential for a coordinated needs assessment. This does not ask if a respondent would be interested in participating. We need to know if there is a sufficient number of agencies that could/would participate and use the results. In some ways, but not specifically. I have had some data generated outside the county indicate local strengths and assets. Indirectly. Often we seek to buttress existing strengths and assets that may be under direct use for other agency's needs assessment to identify where we can acquire programs and services for our clientele beyond employment and training.
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 Yes, lack of appropriate cost effective assessment processes for all elderly. Very minimally. Yes. It has not in the passed but clearly must be in the future. Yes. Yes. No.
 
 B.O.C.E.S. Cayuga Onondaga Board of Cooperative Education Cayuga County Youth Bureau Cayuga Home Cayuga/Seneca County Action Agency (C/SCAA) Child Care Council of the Finger Lakes, Inc. (CCCFL) City Planning: Auburn Planning and Economic Department Confidential Help For Alcohol and Drugs (C.H.A.D.) Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Cayuga County Employment and Training Freedom Recreation Cayuga County Health Department Cayuga County Office for the Aging United Way of Cayuga County Unity House of Cayuga County Partners for a Healthy Community (PFAHC)** Cayuga County Community Health Network (CCCHN)
12. Summaries
 N/A See: Cayuga County YouthBureau Needs Assessment
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 See: Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency, Inc. Needs Assessment See attached: 1998 assessment. See: City Planning Needs Assessment See : C.H.A.D. 1998 Needs Assessment N/A See attached: Program Year 1998. N/A See attached: 1996 - 1997 assessment. See: Office for the Aging Needs Assessment See: United Way Needs Assessment N/A See: Partners for a Healthy Community - COMMUNITY ACTION DAY See attached: June 1998 assessment.