Needs & Opportunities
It's very easy to brainstorm ideas. But what makes an idea a great idea?
Ninety-nine percent of the time, great ideas are those that fulfill a need, a gap and it meets a demand. One percent of the time, a great idea creates demand.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, great ideas are those that fulfill a need, a gap and it meets a demand. One percent of the time, a great idea creates demand.
Planning Tools
In 2008, the Town of Golden published their Official Community Plan (OCP). This steering-committee-developed, 200 page document outlined what residents wanted to see (and not see) in their community with a shelf life of 5-10 years. While this OCP is
Area A does not yet have anything that resembles a community plan. A report was commissioned in 2004, and more recently, the current Area A Director is finalizing a "Capacity Build Needs Assessment," which included a series of community engagement sessions and survey.
Area A also has a role with Gas Tax Funds, and shared services with the Town of Golden. With respect to riverfront planning, Area A has a Parks & Recreation Commission, which directs trails development initiatives and boat launches.
Area A does not yet have anything that resembles a community plan. A report was commissioned in 2004, and more recently, the current Area A Director is finalizing a "Capacity Build Needs Assessment," which included a series of community engagement sessions and survey.
Area A also has a role with Gas Tax Funds, and shared services with the Town of Golden. With respect to riverfront planning, Area A has a Parks & Recreation Commission, which directs trails development initiatives and boat launches.
Indicator Reports
The community of Golden & Area A has produced a number of indicator reports. Under Golden Area Initiatives (GAI), the community economic development office, Community Profiles were published every year until 2011. The Community Profiles were a marketing piece, designed to attract new businesses and residents.
In 2011, the Golden & District Community Foundation, with a team of volunteer researchers (including one from GAI), published Golden & Area A's Vital Signs. This Report used standard issue areas (13) from the international Vital Signs movement, indicators from the 2006 Census, and a collection of local performance indicators. A key component of the Report were the results of a opinionaire/survey that asked 300 community members how the community was performing on these issue areas and which issue areas should be the community's top priorities. In 2011, the top citizen priorities were: 1) Economy, 2) Work and 3) Housing.
In 2014, the GDCF and their team of volunteer researchers published an updated Golden & Area A Vital Signs Report. Using updated Census 2011 data and local performance indicators, 400 survey respondents shared their views on each issue area and priorities. The top citizen priorities were just slightly different than 2011, with 1) Economy, 2) Work and 3) Getting Started & Staying.
While indicator reports like these share local historical data, and what individual can do to help, they do not prescribe new initiatives or projects. That's where Needs Assessment and Asset Based Community Development come in - albeit from two different angles.
In 2011, the Golden & District Community Foundation, with a team of volunteer researchers (including one from GAI), published Golden & Area A's Vital Signs. This Report used standard issue areas (13) from the international Vital Signs movement, indicators from the 2006 Census, and a collection of local performance indicators. A key component of the Report were the results of a opinionaire/survey that asked 300 community members how the community was performing on these issue areas and which issue areas should be the community's top priorities. In 2011, the top citizen priorities were: 1) Economy, 2) Work and 3) Housing.
In 2014, the GDCF and their team of volunteer researchers published an updated Golden & Area A Vital Signs Report. Using updated Census 2011 data and local performance indicators, 400 survey respondents shared their views on each issue area and priorities. The top citizen priorities were just slightly different than 2011, with 1) Economy, 2) Work and 3) Getting Started & Staying.
While indicator reports like these share local historical data, and what individual can do to help, they do not prescribe new initiatives or projects. That's where Needs Assessment and Asset Based Community Development come in - albeit from two different angles.
Needs Assessment
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Asset Based Community Development
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A needs assessment is a systematic process for determining and addressing needs, or "gaps" between current conditions and desired conditions or "wants". The discrepancy between the current condition and wanted condition must be measured to appropriately identify the need. - Wikipedia, 2016 |
Asset-based community development (ABCD) is a methodology for the sustainable development of communities based on their strengths and potentials. It involves assessing the resources, skills, and experience available in a community; organizing the community around issues that move its members into action; and then determining and taking appropriate action. - Wikipedia, 2016 |
Needs assessments are deficient based. There are three perspectives on need in a needs assessment; perceived need, expressed need and relative need.
- Perceived needs are defined by what people think about their needs, each standard changes with each respondent.
- Expressed needs are defined by the number of people who have sought help and focuses on circumstances where feelings are translated into action. A major weakness of expressed needs assumes that all people with needs seek help.
- Relative needs are concerned with equity and must consider differences in population and social pathology. (Wikipedia, 2016)
Asset-based community development (ABCD) differs from needs-based community development in that it focuses primarily on honing and leveraging existing strengths within a community rather than bolstering community deficiencies. Related to tenets of empowerment, it postulates that solutions to community problems already exist within a community’s assets. Principles that guide ABCD include:
1. Everyone has gifts: each person in a community has something to contribute
2. Relationships build a community: people must be connected in order for sustainable community development to take place
3. Citizens at the center: citizens should be viewed as actors—not recipients—in development
4. Leaders involve others: community development is strongest when it involves a broad base of community action
5. People care: challenge notions of "apathy" by listening to people's interests
7. Listen: decisions should come from conversations where people are heard
8. Ask: asking for ideas is more sustainable than giving solutions (Wikipedia, 2016)
1. Everyone has gifts: each person in a community has something to contribute
2. Relationships build a community: people must be connected in order for sustainable community development to take place
3. Citizens at the center: citizens should be viewed as actors—not recipients—in development
4. Leaders involve others: community development is strongest when it involves a broad base of community action
5. People care: challenge notions of "apathy" by listening to people's interests
7. Listen: decisions should come from conversations where people are heard
8. Ask: asking for ideas is more sustainable than giving solutions (Wikipedia, 2016)
Idea Development
Community development ideas needs to fulfill a need or an opportunity. There are many resources on Placemaking that will help groups to develop their ideas and language that will resonate in the community, with government and businesses.
Once you have one - or even better, a few - ideas, it's time to evaluate them as it's not likely there are the resources to do them all. (Even if a community could do them all, it is critical that the ideas are prioritized in line with needs and resources.) The process and tools on Venture Selection is the next step to testing your idea and determining where resources (time, money, space and energy) should be spent before feasibility studies and design work need to be initiated.
Once you have one - or even better, a few - ideas, it's time to evaluate them as it's not likely there are the resources to do them all. (Even if a community could do them all, it is critical that the ideas are prioritized in line with needs and resources.) The process and tools on Venture Selection is the next step to testing your idea and determining where resources (time, money, space and energy) should be spent before feasibility studies and design work need to be initiated.
