Assessing Community Health Needs & Resources

(3 Credits)

Community health assessments comprehensively identify the assets and needs of a defined group. When conducted in tandem with community members, community health assessments provide a window into how a community sees itself, the systems and patterns it functions by, and its assets and needs. Public health practitioners can use this information to work with a community to utilize its strengths to address mutually acknowledged needs. In this course, students will work in teams to conduct a community assessment of an assigned United Health Fund district within New York City. The focus of the course will be on introducing the basic content/skills of on-the-ground field research, collecting, analyzing, and summarizing data. Specifically, students will use primary data (surveys, in-depth interviews, observations) and secondary data (public data sets) collection along with systems thinking to describe and understand the health, demographics, and socio-economic profile of the community. Students will survey and/or interview community leaders, community based organization representatives, health practitioners, and/or community residents. Students will summarize the findings and offer recommendations in a final report and presentation.