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It has been axiomatic that projects and programs are based on concretely established needs and that such efforts must clearly relate to ways to reduce or ameliorate underlying problems, discrepancies, needs, or gaps.
The presenter has made a career on this premise. This seems very basic and yet under the surface there has been a notable fundamentally different philosophy that needs are not the way to go.
Criticisms of needs assessment can be found in the literature over the years with a prominent one in Kretzmann and McKnight’s “Building Communities from the Inside Out.” Their position is that needs represent negatives, they do not build for the future, they produce a dependency type of thinking and that we don’t move forward thinking this way. In their perspective needs and asset/capacity building are antithetical to each other.
What the presenter has systematically studied the two positions – their similarities and differences (rest assured they are there), how they could be synthesized into a hybrid framework, and what examples are there of such an entity being implemented.
The presentation will cover basic definitions, what needs assessment and asset/capacity are, a comparison of these two sides of the equation, and a proposed synthesis of what are two seemingly antithetical stances. Issues are questions about the content will be raised.
The session will be interactive (questions and comments will be encouraged) and examples will be embedded throughout the coverage.
Presenter: James W. Altschuld is professor emeritus at The Ohio State University where he taught program evaluation, needs assessment, and educational research for 28 years. He has authored, co-authored, or edited 8 books mostly published by SAGE and nearly 100 total formal publications along with many reports and done local, regional, national, and international presentations and workshops. In 2009-2010 he was instrumental in the the 5 volume needs assessment kit.
Facilitator: Sandra Ortega earned her doctorate at OSU in educational research and evaluation and then has worked at the Ounce of Prevention Program in Florida, Kent State University and OSU. For the last several she has a private consultant for various state and international projects.
