Community Needs Assessment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Community Needs Assessment - Research Paper Example The work of Maninno et al. (2002) has recognized that asthma is a major cause of school and work days losses in America since the 1980s. Maninno et al. (2002) found that between 1980 and 1996, the prevalence of lifetime asthma has increased in the United States. Related with this, the study of Manino et al. (2002) reported that school days and work man-days losses due to asthma have also increased. This needs assessment focused on the problem of asthma in South Bronx because this analyst believe that asthma is most likely a serious problem in the community given the reputation of South Bronx with regard to the family income of its residents. In addition to the usual objectives of needs assessment, the needs assessment was designed to develop insights on how a health program focused on asthma can best be developed for South Bronx. Thus, the author was keen on drawing data helpful to producing insights in that direction. To produce the community needs assessment, the author reviewed do cuments, news reports, and gathered a documented testimony from at least one community leader. South Bronx is a community populated by low-income minority families in New York City. Figure 1 shows New York City on the left panel and South Bronx on the right panel. South Bronx is composed of localities labeled with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 9 on the right panel and colored yellow. The entire Bronx (colored as peach and yellow) on the right panel is the peach colored area in left panel. According to the Lehman College that is located in the Bronx area, census data indicate that the Bronx had a population of 1.4 million people as of 2008. A significant part of this population resides in South Bronx. Unfortunately, according to the college, around 30% of the South Bronx population refuse to categorize themselves into a racial category. The Lehman College pointed out that although South Bronx is described as a low-income community, there is a section