Asset Mapping / Strength and Needs Assessment (Toolkit)
Asset Mapping and Needs Assessment
Asset mapping is a process whereby a community’s assets are specifically identified, described, and often (but not always) visualized geographically on a map.
A Strength and Needs Assessment is the process by which information and data is gathered regarding the needs of a community. Assessments are conducted to determine specified needs and strengths which leads to the development of action steps.
Is Asset Mapping and a Strength and Needs Assessment a required component of the Comprehensive Prevention Plan? YES.
ACL 22-23 (March 10, 2022), page 9, provide a description of the outcome of Asset Mapping and Needs Assessment and any Capacity and Readiness assessments completed by the county that inform the plan’s content.
Resources
Service Array Data Inventory Sample Worksheet
Contains examples of basic questions specific to different service or program areas to help guide the service array assessment process. The worksheet is meant to be used in conjunction with A Data Driven Approach to Service Array Guide.
Asset-Mapping-Resource-Sheet.pdf (caltrin.org)
Resource list for various ways to conduct asset mapping.
Data Playbook for Prevention Planning
The Data Playbook is for Prevention Action Planning; it is a guide on how to use data for prevention planning.
Healthy City Program, Participatory Asset Mapping
The toolbox presents research concepts, methods, and tools through topical guides and toolkits such as Community Research, Participatory Asset Mapping, and a Short Guide to CBPAR (all of which can be accessed at www.healthycity.org/toolbox).
Casey Family Programs, Opportunity Maps
The Community Opportunity Map is an interactive tool that highlights the aspects of communities that are associated with safe children and strong families. The interactive tool maps community indicators at geographic levels defined by the user, from the state level down to neighborhoods, many of which can be disaggregated by race and ethnicity.
Building Community Resilience Action Guide
The Partner Build Grow tools guide you in collecting information that will help identify an audience, articulate that which will be needed from each audience to reach your goals, select potential partners, and share your objectives when creating your communications plan and your action plans.
Safe and Sound, Community Conditions and Risk Factors
This website focuses on the cost, risk, and protective factors across a community.
DataSF Child Abuse Prevention San Francisco
Contains information on child abuse prevention services provided by multiple departments within the City and County of San Francisco, including services run directly by City departments and programs provided by contracted organizations. Information was collected by the Controller’s Office as a first step in creating a county-wide abuse prevention plan, and includes program descriptions, cost information (where available), and categorizations by service area, protective factor, target audience, and level of prevention.
Guiding Questions
These guiding questions are provided to assist in the development of the comprehensive prevention plan.
- What data sources will be used to conduct an asset map/strength and needs assessment and what data is not available?
- Are these services and supports accessible to vulnerable populations and those that are at greatest risk for entry into systems, what would improve accessibility?
- What are the current needs of children and families served?
- What services are being provided currently to children and families?
- What are the unmet needs of children and families?
- What culturally relevant services are available in the county, services that address the developmental needs of infants, toddlers, and children, services available to children and/or caregivers with physical, cognitive, or other disabilities, services available for Indian and Alaskan Native children and those qualifying under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) assessed?
- What existing data is available, (e.g., evaluations, and qualitative stories from those with lived experience) can be utilized to inform the service array assessments?
- What does the data demonstrate in terms of disproportional entry into care?
- What are the primary contributing factors to this disproportionality based on the information shared from those with lived experience?
- What are the linkages between different sectors, private and public organizations (education, health, housing, etc.)?
- How can you obtain relevant data to analyze?