Page 10 - 2015 Compass Now

OVERVIEW COMPASS NOW 2015 is a joint effort of Great Rivers United Way, area healthcare organizations, area
foundations, and county health departments to assess community needs, identify community resources,
and encourage action to improve the quality of life for everyone in the community. COMPASS NOW has been
a resource in the Great Rivers Region since the first needs assessment in 1995. Great Rivers United Way
initiated this strategic endeavor as an agency transition from resource distribution to community solutions.
This has resulted in focused Great Rivers United Way funding to the programs that answer the greatest
needs. In addition, many community organizations use COMPASS NOW findings to shape their own priorities
and support grant applications.

The wide-reaching efforts of the global economic crisis, coupled with federal mandates for the healthcare
organizations to conduct community needs assessments, was the impetus to implement COMPASS NOW
in 2012. The need to keep this report current and fulfill the partners’ needs have led to an ongoing three-
year process in which Great Rivers United Way works with a committed team of area experts to complete an
assessment that can be adopted by its healthcare partners. The partnership operates in synergy, promoting
greater collaboration among organizations working towards improving the health and well-being of the
population.

The COMPASS NOW 2015 process used a variety of data collection methods to create an overall depiction
of the issues facing our communities. These methods included a Random Household Survey, convenience
survey, community conversations, and an extensive review of socioeconomic indicators, which provides an
inventory of community resources. The data collected during COMPASS NOW 2012 guided the development
of four pillar profiles. These are referred to as pillars because they create the building blocks for a better life.
The pillars of COMPASS NOW 2015 are Community, Education, Income/Economic, and Health. The profiles
describe our community with regards to the key issues of each area. Each profile pulls key indicator data and
COMPASS survey results into a narrative format that is intended to provide a context to the data found in the
indicator report, making the data easy to navigate. Additional reports on the household survey are included
in the Appendix. The website www.compassnow.org has additional indicator reports with county-level data
wherever possible.

The COMPASS NOW 2015 community needs assessment included a Random Household Survey to
complement the socioeconomic indicators. The objective of the Random Household Survey was to increase
the understanding of the community’s needs and their perceptions of the main challenges facing the region.
Results from this survey were examined by respondent characteristics as well as compared to the previous
survey results. Of the 5,000 households that received the Random Household Survey, 791 were returned
with responses analyzed.

In addition to the Random Household Survey, the COMPASS NOW 2015 community needs assessment
also included a convenience sample that focused on specific subgroups in the Great Rivers Region. The
overall objective of this sampling was to collect feedback from populations within the community that were
potentially underrepresented in the Random Household Survey due to the small number in which they
exist in the community. These smaller populations included, but were not limited to, African Americans,
Hispanics, LGBT youth, youth at-risk, low-income adults, and senior citizens. Results from this survey were
compared to the responses of the Random Household Survey respondents in an attempt to determine
any significant differences that existed between the general population and those in smaller subgroups
within the community. In total, 753 community members shared feedback through the convenience sample
process.

Another way in which community feedback was gathered was through community conversations. These
conversations were conducted in lieu of the focus groups that were conducted in the COMPASS NOW
2012 community needs assessment. These small group gatherings were a safe space in which community
members could come together and share their thoughts and experiences about living in the Great Rivers
Region. Additional information and a brief summary on the results of these community conversations can be
found in the Appendix.

2 COMPASS NOW 2015