Communitywide Strategic Planning and Needs Assement

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Head Start and Early Head Start programs are required to conduct a full Community Assessment once every three years and to update the assessment as needed in the intervening years to document that they are adequately addressing local issues.  The requirement for conducting the assessment expanded with the passage of The Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 and the Community-Wide Strategic Planning and Needs Assessment (or CSPNA) now stands as the cornerstone of all program planning.

T/TAS can help you avoid the difficulties that can arise in completing the community assessment and using the instrument to develop plans, set organizational goals, and determine services delivery options.  T/TAS experts have written dozens of community assessments and understand how to:

• Obtain comprehensive, useful, and relevant data by surveying a variety of sources and by engaging the larger community in data collection.
• Conduct a thorough analysis of the information that informs the rationale for program decisions.
• Justify both your program's existence and service delivery methods by utilizing the data and analysis.
• Develop multi-year plans in collaboration with community partners.
• Identify and plan for services not only for traditional Head Start families but also for children from special populations, such as immigrant, refugee, and asylee families; homeless and foster care children; non-English speaking families; children of migrant or seasonal farm workers; and other at-risk populations.

Once these goals have been met, the experts of T/TAS compose a complete, conclusive, and comprehensive document demonstrating the achievements of your program.  The CSPNA will categorize your program's strengths and potential weaknesses, and outline your strategies for outreach, service expansion, and community involvement.

Contact T/TAS to learn how T/TAS can assist you in the Community-Wide Strategic Planning and Needs Assessment process.