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Salisbury -Rowan Community Action Agency, Inc. • Surveys- completed by Head Start Parents and CSBG Participants, community partners, local service providers and board members • Focus groups- conducted with program participants and front line agency staff • Interviews- conducted with community partners Client satisfaction data was also included. This data was beneficial in identifying what services have been most effective in meeting the needs of the community, as well as identifying if the needs and wants of the customers have change. Understanding the needs of the community and what the report data indicated helped to provide a more accurate report on the significant findings and trends in the Community Needs Assessment Document Understanding the data also enabled the agency to make more informed decisions on service provisions to enable more customers to achieve their goals. In an effort to determine the top needs, the top ten (10) percentages of needs were identified for each service area under the needs categories listed from information gathered from both data sources, then the top need of the each category was prioritized from highest to lowest, with the highest percentage of identified needs being listed first. The assessment trends and findings indicated the following needs: • Employment opportunities • Increased services to support an adequately educated and skilled workforce • Affordable housing Factors that are determined to impact poverty or change the current landscape are consistent over the years. However, other scciotenvironmental factors such as economic downturns, fluctuation in the job market, growth in various industries or simultaneous decline in others, impact communities and the ability of residents to gain, maintain or improve employment options. Strategies implemented to best meet the needs of low-income persons and address poverty causes include: a. Focusing on wages that would move a family above poverty based on family size and Identifying job opportunities for families that would most likely result in success for them b. Creating a more intensive work search/employment plan that requires job seekers to be accountable to their Family Development Specialist. c. Requiring families to take incremental steps toward achieving self-sufficiency through the attainment of specific job skills; therefore, filling the skills gap for employers who indicated a lack of for their specific job openings. 3. Describe activities that your agency has undertaken to advocate for and empower low-income individuals and families to achieve economic independence and security. Beginning in May 2012, SRCAA made a conscientious choice to shift the approach used with families from a deficit -based model to one of empowerment and strengths. This model called "Family DevelopmenC, requires the entire network to think of ways to empower families to achieve their own goals and to improve the internal systems of service delivery. The model teaches workers to partner with families and help them set proper goals and activities for themselves so they can become self-sufficient. Fiscal Year 2018-19 Community services Block Grant Application Page 12 of 37 Attachment number 2 \n F-6 Page 100