Monmouth County Human Services Needs Assessment
Click here to take the ONLINE survey
Click here to download the survey(Microsoft Word)
While the lives of residents and the approaches to human service delivery have changed significantly since the turn of the century, there has not been a fresh formal look at the needs of county residents and the nature of our service responses in well over a decade.
With the assistance of JANUS Solutions, a health and human services consulting firm, Monmouth County is undertaking a Human Services Needs Assessment. The assessment will examine the needs of county residents, and the strengths, capabilities, and interests of residents and community stakeholders.
Through a systematic approach, gaps between current conditions and desired conditions will be identified. By using multiple methods to gather information from data sources, diverse constituencies, existing partnerships and collaborations, and keeping the assessment realistic – this effort aims to provide county government and community stakeholders with usable data for community improvement. The result will be a set of formal recommendations to better meet human service needs in Monmouth County in the future.
The assessment will be conducted within a framework of individual and family success, as depicted at the end of this document. The premise of this approach is that comprehensive, holistic investments in organized local systems of family and individual support and community improvement will, over time, produce dramatically better results for children, youth, individuals and families. The family success framework is based on the developmental model, “Journeys of Family Success”, which provides a unifying vision for stakeholders’ goals around child development, adult phases of life and community support across four life areas, or pillars.
This approach acknowledges that appropriate resources and services are required to successfully support people’s developmental journeys through life. The developmental stages of the life represent the journey, and its goals:
- Early Childhood Success (0-8 years old) - All young children will be safe, healthy, and ready to learn.
- Positive Youth Development (9-15 years old) - All school-age children and youth will be living in a permanent home, achieving in school, and connected to their families and communities.
- Strong Transitions to Adulthood (16-26 years old) - Youth transitioning to adulthood will be on positive pathways to economic and social independence with strong and responsible family and community ties.
- Productive Adulthood (27- 62) - adults will achieve their greatest potential for economic and social independence as responsible and contributing community members.
- Successful Aging (63 and over)- aging adults will maintain their greatest level of independence, functioning, and dignity as valued members of their families and communities.
- Strong Families, Strong Communities – Families and communities will have the knowledge, resources, and skills to successfully support their families and community members from birth to the end of life.
Additionally, the conditions for success span four general life domains, or “pillars”:
- Strong family relationships and community connection
- Personal safety, equal opportunity, and financial security
- Good health and well-being
- High-quality learning and education
This framework will be used to undertake the needs assessment through a variety of activities, and through examining the strengths, needs, and resources available to County residents. The framework is comprehensive and inclusive, including individuals of all ages and characteristics, as well as resident needs in one or more of the “pillar” areas.
The activities that comprise the needs assessment are:
- Data collection, organization, and presentation, based upon the journey/life span and pillars framework
- Gather relevant data for each aspect of the journey and pillars
- Summarize and present the data in a way that is understandable and useful to county residents
- Highlight significant differences between NJ rates and Monmouth County rates, and among communities within Monmouth County
- Outreach to existing planning bodies, partnerships and collaborations that represent aspects of the Journey and Pillars, in order to form an “ad hoc steering committee” to:
- Obtain input regarding human service needs, priorities and creative solutions
- Review data and community voice and provide input regarding needs and priorities
- Review services provided and funds expended to address identified needs
- Ensuring community (resident and stakeholder) voice through one open public forum and six targeted focus groups, sponsored by the Freeholder liaison, Monmouth County Human Services Director and the ad hoc steering committee, and provide an opportunity for resident input through the County website.
- Identifying and reviewing current human service investments in relation to need (as identified through the above activities), and explore potential re-directed or leveraged funding for expanded community services to better meet current resident needs.
- A needs-based report that includes data, community voice, priorities and recommendations by February 28, 2017.
This important work will be undertaken as effectively, efficiently and openly as possible. Through the County website, stakeholders will be provided with updates as this process proceeds.
Click here to download the survey - Please submit your response by March 31, 2017
Please check back to this webpage for a simple survey that residents will have the opportunity to complete related to resident needs, as well as specifics about the county forum. If you have any questions, suggestions or concerns, please contact Jeffrey Schwartz, Acting Director of Human Services, at Jeffrey.schwartz@co.monmouth.nj.us.