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Identifying Your Community's Needs
Now that your collaboration has developed a solid foundation based on strong relationships, clear and agreed upon goals, written guidelines, and other essential elements, it is time to move on to the next step: conducting a needs assessment. Accurately assessing the current state of services for survivors with disabilities and those who are Deaf in your community is crucial when making decisions about how to improve services for them and how to build the capacity of the organizations providing these services.
Purpose
A needs assessment can tell your collaboration important information about violence against women with disabilities and Deaf women in your service area, the services available for survivors with disabilities and Deaf women, and the resources of the organizations responsible for providing those services in your community. By comparing this current snapshot of your community with your collaboration’s visions for how things should be, your collaboration will be able to identify unmet needs and be one step closer to developing a plan to address those needs and, ultimately, improving services.
Questions to Consider in your Needs Assessment
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What is the composition of people with disabilities and Deaf people in your community?
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How often does violence against women with disabilities and Deaf women occur?
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What services are available for people with disabilities, Deaf individuals, and victims of violence? Which of those services are geared specifically to survivors with disabilities and those who are Deaf?
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How accessible are existing services for people with disabilities and those who are Deaf?
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How responsive are existing services to the unique safety and other needs of victims of violence?
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What capacity-building resources are available to organizations providing existing services for survivors with disabilities and those who are Deaf?
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What are the potential strategies to address identified gaps in services or unmet needs?
In This Section
We provide you with a how-to guide that will help you successfully conduct a needs assessment.
