When the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) published a new rule making changes to the Head Start Program Performance Standards (Performance Standards), the Office of Head Start (OHS) described these changes as serving three primary purposes: increasing compensation for Head Start staff, integrating mental health services, and effectively meeting the evolving needs of communities. Community assessment is foundational to program planning and meeting community needs. Here, we explore what’s the same and what’s different about community assessment in the new Performance Standards.
Why is it important to conduct a community assessment? The Performance Standards on community assessment – §1302.11 Determining community strengths, needs, and resources (b)(1) – include new language on areas such as identify populations most in need of services; informing enrollment, recruitment, and selection process; Identifying strengths and resources in the community that can be leveraged for service delivery, coordination, and partnership efforts; and identifying communication methods to best engage with prospective and enrolled families.
What data must programs collect? There is not a significant change in the data that programs must collect. There is a continued focus on eligible children, community strengths and needs, and resources. There are two differences in the Performance Standards that are important to highlight. First, there is a stronger emphasis on transportation, in terms of understanding transportation as a barrier to program participation as well as describing transportation resources that are available in the community to address the needs of eligible children and families. Second, programs must now describe “gaps in community resources in areas relevant to addressing the needs of eligible children and their families such as gaps in health and human services, housing assistance, food assistance, employment assistance, early childhood development, and social services.”
How should programs decide what data to collect? The new Performance Standards have clearer language about how to decide what data to collect and how to use the data – all tied to a strategic approach to data gathering. Programs should connect data collection to the goals of the community assessment and use what is most relevant to inform program services. The Performance Standards also have new language about the importance of utilizing existing data sources and data from community partners. This aligns with a commitment from OHS to reduce the burden on programs to collect data that may be time consuming and costly to gather.
How often and when should programs conduct a community assessment? While the requirement for how often to conduct a community assessment has not changed, the new Performance Standards makes it clearer and provides new language about annual updates. A comprehensive community assessment must be completed “at least once over the five-year grant period.” This requirement is unchanged. Programs must also “annually review and update if any significant changes are needed.” In the August 2024 webinar, Updates to the Performance Standards: Nurturing the Promise, OHS reiterated that an annual update is only required when needed. This is a shift from the past, when programs completed an update to their community assessment every year.
How can programs determine if they need to update their community assessment? The annual review of the community assessment is key to understanding if updates are needed. And, in doing so, programs should also consider self-assessment results and their annual funding application. This is new language in the Performance Standards. The Performance Standards also state that the annual review must consider children and families experiencing homelessness and changes to the availability of publicly-funded pre-kindergarten, in addition to other areas. If there are any significant changes in these or other areas, an update should be completed.
In the OHS informational webinar series, the agency stressed that additional tools and resources to support implementation of the new Performance Standards will be made available in coming months. In the meantime, if your program needs help conducting a comprehensive community assessment or completing an annual review or update, we can help. Foundations for Families offers offer a variety of consulting services. If you are interested to learn more or have questions, please be in touch.
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