PENDLETON — Community Action Program of East Central Oregon (CAPECO) launched a 2021 Community Needs Assessment survey Oct. 15 at www.CAPECO-Works.org. The survey will remain available through Nov. 24. A report of the survey will be made available to the public in early 2022, according to a press release from the agency.
The Community Needs Assessment survey is conducted every three years by all Community Action Agencies to determine the underlying causes and conditions of poverty within the community they serve and identify available resources to address the unmet needs of the community’s most vulnerable residents.
It is the first phase of a process to ground and guide the work of developing and implementing programs and services that lift families and communities out of poverty, the release stated.
CAPECO is looking for input from a broad sample of the communities it serves. Anyone living or working in Oregon’s Gilliam, Hood River, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Wasco and Wheeler counties is encouraged to participate.
The survey includes a Spanish language version and is formatted for individual community members, community partners, CAPECO staff and board members.
The results of this Community Needs Assessment will help CAPECO’s board of directors create a strategic plan to initiate and/or support programs and services related to the following six goals:
1. Low-income people become more self-sufficient.
2. The conditions in which low-income people live are improved.
3. Low-income people own a stake in their community.
4. Partnerships among supporters and providers of services to low-income people are achieved.
5. Agencies increase their capacity to achieve results.
6. Low-income people, especially vulnerable populations, achieve their potential by strengthening family and other supportive systems.
Following the survey, participants have an opportunity to enter a drawing for one of seven $50 gift cards.
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