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What is a Community Needs Assessment?
A Community Needs Assessment (CNA) is a structured process used to identify the strengths, resources, and unmet needs of a community, especially among low-income populations. It involves collecting and analyzing data, community input, and stakeholder perspectives to understand what problems exist, who is affected, and what services or interventions are most needed.
For agencies receiving Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funding, the CNA is not just best practice, but a federal requirement.
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Michigan’s Community Action Data Hub
Every three years, Michigan’s Community Action Agencies (CAAs) must combine quantitative and qualitative data into a CNA report to properly inform their Community Action Plan and organizational strategic plan. The CNA ensures programs and services are built around actual community conditions, not assumptions.
If you are a Michigan Community Action agency, the BCAEO Data Hub provides two powerful data sources for your next assessment.
Click the button to the right to generate reports by your agency and/or county, as well as view mapping data across Michigan.
The interactive map below shows poverty facts, including poverty rate, by county from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates released in fall of 2019. The poverty represents the percentage of individuals at or below 100% of the federal poverty level.
Select a county to see current information and data
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Do you need assistance?
CAAs have been at work in every county in Michigan for decades, helping individuals and families with needs such as housing and utilities, food and water, veterans support, and programs for children and homeless youth. Click on your county in the map above to get contact information for the CAA that serves your area.
Important Definitions
- Poverty
- The Census Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who is in poverty. If a family’s total income is less than the family’s threshold, then that family and every individual in it is considered in poverty. The official poverty thresholds do not vary geographically, but they are updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index.
- ALICE
- ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, and is a way of defining and understanding households that earn above the Federal Poverty Level, but not enough to afford a bare-bones household budget.