AY Honors/Community Assessment/Answer Key
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This honor is available only to clubs outside the North American Division. For those inside the North American Division, use the Identifying Community Needs honor instead. |
1. Select a community or urban area that you’re familiar with and describe to the best of your ability the following information: location on a map, economic conditions, demographic description of residents (age, gender, most common jobs, etc.), degree of health access, crime rate, and education.
A map of the area
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Outreach/Identifying Community Needs/Maps
Economic conditions
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Outreach/Identifying Community Needs/Economic
A demographic profile
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Outreach/Identifying Community Needs/Demographic
Public health statistics
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Outreach/Identifying Community Needs/Health
Crime Statistics
Start with the local police department who will either have the information or know where to get it.
Education
You are looking for statistics on the percentage of adults who completed high school and university. An area with many university graduates will tend to be more wealthy and have less crime. An economic development office often has this information.
2. List the needs you see in your community. This can include better support for low-income families, assistance for lonely or elderly people, and better clean up of public areas, etc.
All communities need these types of services, but some more than others. Focus on the biggest needs.
3. Listen to a community leader, teacher, church pastor, or police officer talk about ways that someone like you can make a positive impact in a community. Remember to takes notes.
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/ADRA/Community Assessment/Guest
4. Report in your own way to your Pathfinder Club about your findings and describe what you have specifically learned about the community you chose. Be creative.
Do not overlook the items that your club and other ministries in your church can address. Reports such as these are important to help focus the efforts of the church to the true needs of the community it serves. Only through careful consideration of those needs can we do our Christian duty of service in a way that is useful and beneficial. Community outreach is not only for the productivity of the church but for the true benefit of those it is to affect. Therefore, not only is it necessary to identify the community's needs, it is also necessary to prioritize them, and to determine the ministry best suited to execute the service.
5. Describe the most important improvements your community needs and what you can do to help.
This is where you summarize your research.
Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/ADRA/Community Assessment/Refs
