Community Needs Assessment
This Assessment is a primary ongoing part of the work of the Funders’ Collaboration. It was originally completed and posted on DuPage Federation’s website in November 2010. The four primary goals of this Needs Assessment are: (a) to develop and maintain a common source of consistent and easily accessible data on health and human services needs and the resources that are addressing these needs; (b) to develop and maintain a description of the gaps and underfunded parts of the health and human services system; (c) to develop and maintain a presentation package of this information so that it can be easily understood by decision makers and the public; and (d) to develop a common set of messages (used by funders as well as provider agencies) about the critical health and human service needs in the DuPage area.
Quick Summary of the Community Needs Assessment
Major Trends: The Assessment identifies five important trends affecting the DuPage County area. First, rapid increases in the numbers of low-income people (at or near poverty) are straining the health and human services system. Second, the growth of the aging population (growing even faster than the state or nation) will require new resources to meet needs. Third, rapidly increasing ethnic and cultural diversity (with "new neighbors" accounting for essentially all of the population growth in the last two decades) is requiring new competencies in education, government, human services, and the marketplace. Fourth, the local economy is "maturing" and is moving from an era driven by high-growth to one that emphasizes sustainability and preparing our changing workforce for the next generation of jobs. Fifth, the reality of diminished government budgets and other funding challenges (at a time of unprecedented growth in needs) is requiring new approaches to raising resources and providing this changing population.
Conclusions: The Community Needs Assessment summarizes, and outlines the importance of, four overarching trends. These are: (a) demographic changes (larger numbers of economically disadvantaged persons, increased racial and ethnic diversity, and more senior citizens) are occurring very rapidly in DuPage; (b) a growing segment of the DuPage population is not sharing in the general health and prosperity of the county, and these disparities are often related to racial and ethnic factors; (c) the DuPage human service sector seems to be under-funded in many areas and, consequently, is lagging behind the more urban parts of the region in meeting critical needs; and (d) the growth of the senior population in DuPage is already having impacts, but the most substantial impacts are still to come.
Strategies: There are also four recommended strategies, which are: (a) develop and implement a plan to disseminate and promote the Community Assessment's key findings and recommended strategies; (b) build a cross-sector organizational structure that emphasizes education from birth to career; (c) prepare for an older population; and (d) find new resources and new methods of addressing health and human services needs.
The Community Needs Assessment is continually updated, and it is currently being expanded beyond DuPage. This document, along with the Profiles of Vulnerable Populations, has been the basis for many initiatives and advocacy efforts.
Download the Community Needs Assessment
The full Community Needs Assessment, as well as individual sections of the document, can be downloaded by going to the “Publications” page of this website. The following LINK will take you there.