PUB 302: Community Assessment

Course Description

This course will focus on the critical thinking skills and experience based tools for needed to assess community needs and resources and to make community decisions. The course introduces students to the development tools of community assessment, project design, monitoring, and evaluation. It focuses on the role of the professional in advocacy and organizing settings, problem analysis, problem framing, theories, models and approaches to organizing, advocacy and community development, and community and organizational assessment methods. At the end of this course participants will have the skills necessary to involve the community in in its own restoration. This course can only be taken by students in the College Unbound Program. (3 credits)

Prerequisites

ENG 101: English Composition 1
ENG 102: English Composition 2

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

Summarize the theoretical basis of community practice social work, including theories of social justice, communities, and organizations.
Distinguish between and apply different community organizing strategies, including social action, asset-based development, community development, grassroots organizing, and neighborhood revitalization, based on the specific community context.
Delineate and develop proficiency in the major tasks, processes and technologies of community organizing.
Design a community based project/Create baselines, budgets, targets and indicators.
Identifying, analyzing, and implementing evidence-based interventions designed to achieve community goals; using research and technological advances; evaluating program outcomes and practice effectiveness.
Analyze project idea for connection to community need and conduct a community validation of community assessment report
Craft a personal philosophy of community development.
Engage, assess, intervene, and evaluate with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
Developing, analyzing, advocating, and providing leadership for policies and services; and promoting social and economic justice.
Identify strengths and assets that exist within communities and groups and employ intervention models that help build upon them.
Employ knowledge, skills and appropriate conceptual frameworks and theories to tailor a range of evidence-based interventions at organizations and various levels of communities.

General Education Outcomes (GEOs)

Please check the applicable GEOs for this course, if any, by outcomes at GEO Category Search, or by subject area at GEO Discipline Search.

Course Activities and Grading

Assignments	Weight
Weekly Discussion Board and Participation	10%
A Philosophy of Community Development	10%
Community Assessment	20%
Review of Community Assessment Report (CAR)	20%
Case Study Analysis	10%
Personal and Process Evaluation	10%
Final Paper	20%
Total	100%

Required Text

Hardcastle, D. & Powers, P. (2011). Community practice: Theories and skills for social workers. 3rd. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN-13: 978-0-19-539887-8

Additional Resources

Rowe, W. Clayton Rowe and Hugh T. Brewster, Community Assessment: Listening to the Community, World Vision Canadian Programs (version 2012)
Rowe, W. Clayton Rowe and Hugh T. Brewster, Project Design, Monitoring and Evaluation: Responding with the Community (LEAP 2), World Vision Canadian Programs. (Version 2012)
Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience

Course Schedule

Week	SLOs	Readings and Exercises	Assignment(s)
1	1,2,13	Understand the Concepts of Community Assessment and Design Readings from Textbooks: Hardcastle, Chapter 1 - Community Practice: An Introduction. p. 1 Additional Readings: Alinsky, "Rules for Radicals", A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals.1989: New York Conducting a Community assessment	Read assigned material Participate in Discussion Boards Submit Assignment - Personal Philosophy of Community Development
2	2,3,5	Theories of Community Systems, Social Learning and Social Capital Readings from Textbooks: Hardcastle, Chapter 2, Theory-Based, Model-Based Community Practice, p. 39 Hardcastle, Chapter 3, The Nature of Social and Community Problems, p. 69 Hardcastle, Chapter 6, Using Assessment in Community Practice, p. 155 Additional Readings: Assessing Community Needs and Resources	Read assigned material Participate in Discussion Boards Submit Assignment - Community Assessment
3	9,10,11	Discovering the Life of the Community: Completing a Community Assessment Readings from Textbooks: Hardcastle, Chapter 5, Discovering and Documenting the Life of a Community, p. 133 Hardcastle, Chapter 6, Using Assessment in Community Practice, p. 155 Additional Readings: Assessing Community Needs and Resources	Read assigned material Review the lecture material Participate in Discussion Boards Submit Assignment- Completing a Community Assessment, Part 1 Submit Assignment- Completing a Community Assessment, Part 2
4	4,5	Deciding What Information You Need to Gather Readings: Assessing Community Needs and Resources HIA Report: Affordable Hoursing and Child Health	Read assigned material Participate in Discussion Boards Submit Assignment - Community Assessment Report Review
5	5,9,10	Community Issues Readings: Assessing Community Needs and Resources Protecting Health Using an Environmental Impact Assessment	Read assigned material Participate in Discussion Boards Submit Assignment - Case Study Analysis
6	8,12	Understanding the Evidence and Providing Leadership Readings from Textbooks: Hardcastle, Chapter 7, Using Self in Community Practice: Assertiveness, p. 182 Hardcastle, Chapter 12, Using the Advocacy Spectrum, p. 341 Hardcastle, Chapter 13, Using Organizing: Acting in Concert, p. 371	Read assigned material Participate in Discussion Boards
7	10,13	Describe the Barriers and Resources for Addressing Identifed Issues Readings: Assessing Community Needs and Resources	Read assigned material Participate in Discussion Boards Submit Assignment - Personal And Process Evaluation Continue working on final paper
8	11,12,13	Completing the Design of a Community Based Project Readings from Textbooks: Hardcastle, Chapter 8: Using Your Agency, p. 215 Hardcastle, Chapter 14: Community Social Casework p. 402	Read assigned material Participate in Discussion Boards Submit Final Paper Complete course evaluation

COSC Accessibility Statement

Charter Oak State College encourages students with disabilities, including non-visible disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury, attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, or psychiatric disabilities, to discuss appropriate accommodations with the Office of Accessibility Services at OAS@charteroak.edu.

COSC Policies, Course Policies, Academic Support Services and Resources

Students are responsible for knowing all Charter Oak State College (COSC) institutional policies, course-specific policies, procedures, and available academic support services and resources. Please see COSC Policies for COSC institutional policies, and see also specific policies related to this course. See COSC Resources for information regarding available academic support services and resources.