Introducing Arizona's Needs Assessment Committee

Needs Assessment Committee
Overall, the Needs Assessment Committee is made up of one State Director, 15 Lead Assessors and approximately 60 Municipal Assessors.

WHAT IS A NEEDS ASSESSMENT?
A “Needs Assessment” is an evaluation process utilized to discover the needs of a community at all levels that are within the Assembly’s area of responsibility. We look at the Needs Assessment as a guide to help us determine a perceived need, specific need, requested need or universal need … all of which impact Arizona. It could be as simple as defining a need to repair a pothole on a busy street or as complex as restoring the entire Arizona ecosystem.

WHY USE IT?
The Needs Assessment allows us to investigate a situation, location, or item. It enables us to prioritize our available resources as an Assembly in order to complete the most significant tasks that may be crucial to an Arizona community. We utilize it for things like rights restoration, transitional government, and solution-finding, as well as a tool to look at concerns like lack of educational access, significant pollution, communications challenges, and infrastructure issues

WHO USES IT?
Here at the APA, we currently maintain the following committees (Law, Law Enforcement, Security, Treasury, Environment, Family Services, Education, Health, Project Management, Public Works, Science and Technology, Communications, Restoration and, of course, our Needs Assessment team).

Each area of responsibility is represented by a Committee. Committees are responsible for researching and recording the needs of the people and Assembly (city, state, etc.) within their area of duty at every governance level … be it National, State, County, or Municipal. (Example: The Environment Committee is researching Water, Land and Air based needs, whereas the Education Committee will be researching schools and other educational elements within a community).

HOW IT WORKS

At the center of nearly everything that an Assembly is going to act upon, there will be a Needs Assessment. Therefore, there are a variety of several components to how it works.

• First, we review and “SCOPE OUT” the situational “need” brought to our attention. (It’s actually called SCOPING.) We then determine the level of that issue.

• Second, we “PRIORITIZE”: This is where we look at the information that we either have acquired (or need to acquire) to determine the order in which we need to act. This is usually based on the impact the situation may have on a community. In general, we are categorizing the “Needs Assessment” from the most severe to the least.

• Lastly, we look at the “AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY”: It’s the geo-political boundary for an Assembly based on its formation, but for a Committee, it is determined by its specific focus. Hence the various committees like Education, Science and Technology, Law, Environment, Family Services (and so on) will center their attention on their own area of expertise.

Once the Needs Assessment has been completed, it will then be determined if more information is needed with additional assessments or move into our Project or Restoration Committees to be placed into action.

Feeling inspired to be part of this amazing group of individuals who are passionate about restoring Arizona?
Connect with us today!

Do you have questions?

For more information contact the Needs Assessment Committee.