Title
Review and Approve the Social Service Human Relations Board (SSHRB) Community Needs Assessment (CNA) Final Report for the City Council Consideration
Body
To: Honorable Acting President Scott Means and Members of the Social Service Human Relations Board
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This item is for SSHRB to review and approve the Draft 2023 CNA.
BACKGROUND
The City’s Charter assigns SSHRB the responsibility of assessing and responding to the social service and human relations needs of the City of Alameda (City). To fulfill that responsibility, SSHRB has periodically surveyed Alameda residents to determine the scope of the community needs and to evaluate and publicize resources to meet those needs. The last CNA was presented to the City Council in June 2018.
At its March 24, 2022, meeting, SSHRB finalized a methodology for the Community Needs Assessment centered on the following points:
• Eliminate previous survey format-The 2012 and 2017 CNAs relied on community surveys posted on-line, distributed by email, and made available in hard copy at various locations in multiple languages throughout the City. SSHRB considered the limitations of this approach in producing a statistically representative sample of Alameda’s population. In addition, the phrasing of the survey questions left ambiguity whether the responses were based on personal experience or perceived needs in the community.
• Use existing secondary data, including data collected from the numerous community-wide surveys-As an alternative methodology, SSRHB decided to consolidate data from the many government studies and surveys already conducted of Alameda’s population and social indicators.
• Supplement with community meetings-SSHRB regularly solicits and receives comments from community-based organizations and stakeholders to identify priority public service needs for the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). Most recently, SSHRB held a public hearing on December 1, 2022, where it received written and/or verbal input from 14 local service organizations.
• Introduce a new report, broken down by the following domains:
o Demographics
o Economy
o Housing
o Health
o Social Connectedness
o Social Supports
o Transportation
o Civic Engagement
o Personal Security
o Environmental Quality
DISCUSSION
Over the last year, SSHRB members have volunteered hundreds of hours to the preparation of the 2023 CNA. At the February 23, 2023 meeting, SSHRB reviewed the draft CNA for final comments. City Staff then contracted with a graphic artist to format the final document for SSHRB approval.
The following themes and community needs emerged through review of the data collected and community meetings with local service providers and stakeholders:
• Racial equity concerns are at the core of many of these issues. While the statistics regarding race and ethnicity provide a snapshot, the stark statistics of overall financial inequity contained in this report indicate a strong reason to investigate and address these needs.
• There are serious underlying issues and needs among certain segments of the population, especially in regard to student mental health crisis intervention and supportive programming.
• Many languages other than English are spoken as the primary language among Alameda residents, highlighting the continued need for language access to information and referral services for English-as-a-second language and recent immigration populations.
• There are a number of household concerns identified in the CNA, including housing and homeless services, domestic violence, available and affordable childcare, food security, and mental health services.
With SSHRB approval, the CNA will be presented to the City Council at its May 2, 2023 meeting. Through the CNA, SSHRB will not only inform the City Council of Alameda residents’ needs, it will also assist social service agencies in their strategic planning and program development. The results will help community-based organizations document community needs in their applications for funding and will give granting agencies important information to help guide their giving programs.
RECOMMENDATION
Accept the SSHRB Community Needs Assessment report.
Respectfully submitted,
Eric Fonstein
Development Manager
Exhibit
1. Exhibit 1, The Draft 2023 Community Needs Assessment