Community Needs Assessment 2018
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Community Needs Assessment 2018 Webb County Community Action Agency TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................. 1‐2 II. REQUIREMENTS ON COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT .............................. 4 III. ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE ......................................................................... 5 IV. COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT RESULTS OVERVIEW ......................... 5‐12 V. COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT PROCESS OVERVIEW ........................... 13 VI. DATA COLLECTION METHODS ............................................................... 14‐15 VII. COMMUNITY PROFILE .......................................................................... 16‐18 VIII. CONDITIONS OF POVERTY .................................................................... 19‐25 IX. WEBB COUNTY PROFILE ....................................................................... 26‐36 1. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL INDICATORS ................................................................ 30‐31 2. COMMUNITY STRENGTHS AND ASSETS .............................................................. 31‐32 3. GAPS IN SERVICES AND BARRIERS .................................................................... 32‐34 4. TRENDS FOR WEBB COUNTY ................................................................................ 34 5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES AND CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM ANALYSIS OF DATA .... 34‐36 X. WEBB COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY TOP FIVE NEEDS FOR THE SERVICE AREA CATEGORIZED BY DOMAIN ............................................................... 37 XI. WEBB COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY ORGANIZATIONAL STRENGTHS, ASSETS, AND CHALLANGES ................................................................... 38‐39 I. Executive Summary Webb County Community Action Agency (WCCAA) last performed a Community Assessment back in 2015. Under the umbrella of WCCAA are the following programs: Self Help Center, Elderly Nutrition Program, Meals on Wheels, El Aguila Rural Transportation, Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) and Community Service Block Grant (CSBG). Self Help Center, El Aguila Rural Transportation and Meals on Wheels are independent programs. However, CEAP and CSBG have four community centers and their administrative offices are located in downtown Laredo, TX. Since 2015, WCCAA underwent a new administration and a relocation of administrative offices. On or about March 2017, the WCCAA administrative offices were temporarily moved from the present location to the Webb County Purchasing Department, in which offices were located in the same building. This move negatively affected morale, thus impacting the program’s numbers as evidenced by having less customers applying for energy assistance. On or about July 2017, WCCAA offices were relocated to Fernando Salinas Community Center. This center is located in Central Laredo, adjacent to the City of Laredo Health Department. It is located within two to three blocks from an elementary school. More importantly, the new location offers activities for the elderly and on specific days offers food for the indigent population. The new offices are found in an old neighborhood (barrio), making it more accessible to customers. When WCCAA moved to its new home, within days, the Executive Director resigned, along with the Program Manager. These resignations again resulted in low morale and indirectly affected the population of the program; there were fewer customers seeking services. Perhaps this was the outcome of a program relocating two times in a less than seven month. Although WCCAA was assigned an Interim Executive Director, it is evident that the lack of permanent leadership resulted in a lack of direction and a lack of long term planning. WCCAA failed to take a proactive approach to ensure that services were being provided to its primary population. One of the programs under Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) is the Transition Out of Poverty (TOP) program. It failed to meet its population thresholds. Furthermore, allotted funds for the Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) were not being depleted on a timely manner. For this reason, CEAP funds for Calendar Year 2016 were carried over to Calendar Year 2017. On November 6, 2017, WCCAA hired a new Executive Director. Under new leadership, WCCAA established Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with agencies within the community who also work with the indigent population. These MOUs allowed staff to be a network and collaborate with local community coalitions members who share the same goals and objectives as WCCAA. 1 | Page In December 2017, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) conducted a program audit. The results of the audit showed there were no significant findings. In February 2018, staff attended training on how to conduct a community needs assessment and strategic planning. On this same month, the Executive Director attended TACAA training. In March 2018, three staff members attended “Results Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA) training. Since November 2017, there have been numerous staff development trainings. Some of the benefits of these trainings include: improved customer service skills by addressing organization standards; developed relationships with TDHCA staff; positive skills building; productive Advisory Board Meetings; successful subcommittee meetings; and proper skills on the planning and implementation of WCCAA Community Needs Assessment. Productivity workload measures and metric were established for case managers. This new tools serve as performance indicators for staff so that they can have monthly customer contact goals established in efforts to meet metrics each month. It is critical to acknowledge that by strengthening community relationships with other social service agencies it has made a positive impact on staff, thus empowering them of their abilities and skills to enhance their perspective programs. Furthermore, identifying vocational or technical schools and partnering with them has been a treasure find for WCCAA. The enclosed surveys, interviews with mental health professionals, health care administrators and other active players in the community has serve to identify the needs and reinforce the point that there are hardships in our community. Below are the top five (5) needs as identified by our survey. 1. Health care/wellness 2. Family life skills 3. Affordable housing 4. Education 5. Employment. It is with much pride that Webb County Community Action Agency submits its community assessment. Webb County Community Action Agency anticipates our findings will lead to improved planning, program implementation, and enhance our abilities to transition individuals out of poverty. Appendixes are available upon request. 2 | Page II. Requirements on Community Needs Assessment Webb County Community Action Agency (WCCAA) receives funding for the Community Service Block Grant (CSBG). Under CSBG, WCCAA is required by law to conduct a community needs assessment. This law was passed by Congress in 1998. The requirements are that a need assessment be conducted every 3 years. The purpose of conducting a community needs assessment every 3 years is to identify if there are any significant changes in the community that may be affecting low income families. Overall, the outcome of this assessment leads to better planning and program implement for low income families. WCCAA elected to utilize Texas Department of Housing Community Affairs (TDHCA) survey. WCCAA made minor adjustments to the survey that is available both in English and Spanish. The survey is user friendly; the page layout is designed front and back with one side being in English and the other in Spanish. Feedback from staff was requested and taken into consideration for this survey. In addition, the survey was made available electronically utilizing Survey Planet. 3 | Page III. Organizational Profile Webb County Community Action Agency (WCCAA) has been in existence since the War on Poverty began in the 1960s. At one time Webb County Head Start Program was under the Community Action Agency; however, this program was given an opportunity to independently be under the Governing Body of the Webb County Commissioners Court. WCCAA has El Aguila Rural Transportation Program. This program is federally funded and provides transportation to citizens living in rural communities such as Rio Bravo, Oilton, El Cenizo, Bruni, Mirando and Aguilares. Citizens living in Colonias are eligible for transportation and frequently use El Aguila’s services. El Aguila transports citizens to downtown Laredo, medical appointments, job sites and local colleges. It provides curb‐side service on demand for those who are handicap and require wheelchair transportation. There is a fee for a one way or round trip. Meals on Wheels is another federally funded program. It provides meals to senior citizens age sixty and above. However, these individual must be Medicaid recipients. Meals are provided year round and are delivered via drivers. Meals on Wheels provides nutritional meals to participants who attend community centers. These meals are provided Mondays through Friday and it’s an opportunity for them to receive a hot to warm meal. Nutritional meals are served to five community centers in Webb County. Self Help Centers were established by the Texas Legislature in 1995. The goal of the Self Help Centers is to assist families on transforming their community into conventional neighborhoods. This is accomplished