What We Do
The Planning Council regularly provides community and program assessments, data collection and analysis, and various types of research to measure and determine community impact for partners at the local, state and national levels.
Community Data
Looking at how a community is doing over time and comparing it to the progress being made at the state and national levels allows decision-makers to put the condition of their community into a broader perspective as they decide where to invest resources.
Investment in Priorities
This resource of community indicators resource demonstrates five visions of what constitutes a healthy, viable community: Jobs, Education, Neighborhoods, Wellness, and Inclusion. The data stimulates a community conversation between stakeholders, providers and citizens to set priorities and measure progress.
Through monitoring human service indicators—Jobs, Education, Neighborhoods, Wellness and Inclusion—and demonstrating trends on how well the region is doing in these five areas, The Planning Council, together with regional partners, identifies critical community issues and develops a coordinated approach to solving the region’s most pressing human service problems.
Homeless Data
The Planning Council administers the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), the regional repository for client level data. HMIS data can be reported for individual agencies, across an entire Continuum of Care (CoC), and for specific project types, such as Outreach, Coordinated Assessment, Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, Rapid Rehousing, or Permanent Supportive Housing programs within a CoC.
Community Needs Assessments
The Planning Council can help you, your organization, or your community determine needs, gaps in service or care, capacity, best solutions, and economic viability of proposed programs and services.
The Planning Council has conducted all types of Needs Assessments since its inception. These assessments provide an in-depth understanding of the most important needs of that group or community, and guides future action. Needs assessments look at resources, capacity and gaps in services or care. Typically, the most vital needs are prioritized to address when making changes.
Since 2008, The Planning Council has completed Community Health Needs Assessments for the departments of Public Health in Chesapeake, Hampton, Suffolk and Portsmouth, along with the Virginia Eastern Shore, the Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital/Thomas Jefferson Health District and Chesapeake Regional Healthcare. Each assessment is tailored to the needs of that community/entity and builds on all community collaboration to assess the public health system, and prioritize issues while identifying resources to address them.
Additionally, The Planning Council has assisted the regional Community Service Boards to ascertain community readiness around Problem Gambling and Marijuana Use. Environmental scans of media, bricks and mortar, stakeholder interviews and more tools were utilized to gather a broad array of experiences, knowledge and perceptions around these topics as the State of Virginia prepares new messaging around prevention and treatment.
Grant Research Services
The Planning Council team can assist you or your organization with various research and data analysis, as well as compliance and monitoring assistance. We know the ins and outs of government grant-making agencies and nonprofit foundations. Let us help you maximize your return on investment.
Ready for Our Help?
Could your organization or agency benefit from our Community Engagement Services? Have a question about how we can help you meet a community need? Send us a message and someone from the appropriate department will get back to you as soon as possible.
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