Community Assessment Resources
Prof. Linda Weinberg
A Community Assessment Is a Description of a Community and its People.
• It is used to determine what services might be needed in a community and how those services might best be provided.
• Conducted by health care professionals, government entities, social service providers, educational institutions, businesses, and anyone interested in providing a service to or for the community.
• A good article about community assessment: "A Critical Skill for the Future: Community Assessment," by Susan S. Gerberich, Susan J. Stearns and Therese Dowd (Journal of Community Health Nursing, Vol. 12, No. 4 [1995], pp. 239-250). The appendix has suggested sources for finding different types of community information.
Useful Resources for Assessing a Community
• Observational• Personal Interviews of Residents• Windshield Surveys (personal observation of a community
from a drive by)• Official Archives
• Census Data• Chambers of Commerce• Departments of Health
• Secondary Sources• Books, Maps• Periodical articles• Web Sites (Note: the Web can contain observational, official,
and secondary sources.)
Community Assessment Guide Examples
• Pace University (New York)– Community Assessment Resources
• Maryville University (St. Louis) – Community Assessment– In depth example of Granite City, Illinois
What is a Census Tract?
Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county.
Use American FactFinder
to find a Census Tract http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
Click on Address Search
Type in an Address
Under Results, Click Census Tractthen Close the Window
Census Tract Statistics for a specific community
Next Place to Search: Infoshare Online Database
Infoshare Online Database
• New York State and NY City population statistics, immigration trends, socio-economic indicators, birth and death data, hospitalizations, local economic data, and more. Search by Census Tract, zip code, village, town, city, etc.
• Pace University’s great video about how to search the Infoshare database: http://videoserv.pace.edu/library/infoshare.wmv
• Find Infoshare in the A-Z list of databases on the Adelphi Library home page
Health StatisticsAdelphi Guide on Finding Health Statistics
http://libguides.adelphi.edu/healthstatistics
Community Resource Database of Long Island
Get Additional Information From Your Local Public Library
• Nassau County Public Libraries http://www.nassaulibrary.org/list/nasslist.html
• Suffolk County Public Libraries http://www.live-brary.com/about-live-brary• New York Public Libraries (Manhattan, Bronx, Staten
Island)http://www.nypl.org/locations
• Queens Public Libraries http://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?section_id=12&page_id=303
• Brooklyn Public Libraries http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/branch_libraries.jsp
State and County Government Websites
• New York State: http://www.state.ny.us/
• New York City: http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/
• NYS and NYC Counties: http://www.nysegov.com/citguide.cfm?context=citguide&content=munibycounty1
• Counties, cities, towns, and villages in New York State http://www.nysegov.com/citguide.cfm?context=citguide&content=munibyalpha
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