ORGANIZING COMMUNITIES TO MOVE TOWARDS CHANGE, continued

Step 2: Assess the Community. Once you have developed a general idea about the problem in the community you want to address, it is important to gather information in a more formal and systematic way. A community assessment will help focus the target problem more specifically. Gathering information about the extent of the problem will also serve to convince skeptics about the seriousness of the problem and can be used to convince others to join in your efforts. Finally, data on problem severity can serve a baseline measurement that can be compared with problem data after the environmental strategy intervention.

When gathering information on problem severity, it is important not to get bogged down in this type of data collection because problem assessments can be quite time-consuming and expensive. Fortunately, when it comes to environmental prevention strategies, many agencies and institutions already collect data. Crime indicator data are collected by local police departments. Health indicator data are collected by social service and public health agencies. Hospitals also maintain data on emergency room admissions.

Step 3: Develop an Action Plan. Based on the analysis of gathered information and established goals and objectives, the action plan should include a description of the proposed environmental prevention approach, the rationale for selecting the approach, the resources needed to implement the strategy, the tasks required to implement the plan (in as sequential a manner as possible), and a timeline for accomplishing these tasks.