This document proposes to The Coordinating Council of Broward (CCB) a methodology for developing a countywide resource inventory, a critical component of the community assessment process that supports coordinated health, education and human service planning in the County. It also presents a plan of action for 1997-98, during which initial implementation will be undertaken.

The community assessment methodology adopted by the CCB in September, 1997, is designed to support movement towards the vision of "an uninterrupted, integrated system of services through which individuals are able to have their needs met in a responsible and effective manner." It also recognizes four desired characteristics of the future service delivery system: progression from coordination to collaboration; designed for the customer; accountable, results-oriented; and effective communication process.

Key features of the proposed countywide resource inventory of health, education and human services are:

• a common classification system (taxonomy) for services, to be used as the "common language" in the shared information system;
• standardized organizational profiles for both funders and providers containing information about services funded or provided and the resources allocated to those services, to be updated at least annually;
• a memorandum of understanding among CCB members requiring funders and providers to complete the standardized organizational profile as a pre-requisite for funding and/or participation, while ensuring acceptance of the same in fulfillment of requirements for each grant application, survey and monitoring report;
• integration of the resource inventory with the directory of services maintained by Broward County's information and referral service (First Call for Help);
• integration with the resource inventories and asset mapping undertaken as part of neighborhood pilot projects; and
• integration with the County's shared information network as it is implemented.

Key components of the proposed action plan for 1997-98 are:

• approval of this proposed methodology by January, 1998;
• development and adoption of a service taxonomy, standard organizational profiles and a memorandum of understanding by March, 1998; and
• collection and tabulation of data from the first set of organizational profiles through June, 1998, and delivery of a report to the CCB.

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The community assessment methodology approved by the CCB in September, 1997, provides for:

• use of quality-of-life indicators (including goals) to support the identification of needs and monitor progress towards meeting them;
• creation of a countywide resource inventory to enable analysis of resource allocation, including service gaps and overlaps;
• identification of critical needs through the comparison of needs and current resource allocation;
• increased opportunity for community input into determination of priorities;
• use of information technology to ensure easy access to detailed data; and
• presentation of the results in a format appropriate to support decision-making.

The adopted community assessment methodology is presented conceptually in Figure 1 – Components of the Community Assessment Methodology. The diagram identifies not only components which are assumed to be part of the community assessment, but also components needed to ensure that the assessment serves the function of supporting decision-making by the CCB and community stakeholder groups.

Figure 1

Over the last two years, the CCB has developed a set of quality-of-life indicators in seven categories. The first edition of The Broward Benchmarks was published in November, 1997. The CCB expects to publish a follow-up document in early 1998 with goals for priority indicators. This effort will enable the community to identify areas where performance of the health, education and human service delivery system is not adequate. However, it does not enable decision-makers to discuss meaningfully the allocation of existing or additional resources to those priority issues that emerge from the identification of needs. The additional information needed to aid in the identification of service gaps and overlaps for these issues will be produced by the proposed countywide resource inventory.

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The countywide resource inventory is proposed in order to provide a comprehensive and systematic source of information about how resources are allocated to specific health, education and human services in Broward County, including the allocation to geographic areas and target populations. The timely compilation of this information should enable the CCB to identify specific services, areas and target populations for which gaps or overlaps of service exist, contributing to the discussion of the allocation of Broward County resources to priority issues.

The primary components of the proposed methodology are described below.

• A common classification system for the identification of services is a basic requirement for both the countywide resource inventory and the shared information network in general. It will be used by each organization clearly to identify the services funded or provided in a way that supports aggregation of like services across organizations. A key component of the taxonomy is clear definitions for each service. Adoption of a common taxonomy will ensure that the referral service, funders and providers have a common "language" with which to talk about services.
• It is highly desirable to avoid duplicative effort by adopting an existing service classification system. A taxonomy which may meet the requirement has been identified. The system, developed by Info Line of Los Angeles, has been adopted by the Florida Association of Information and Referral Services (FLAIRS), as well as other similar services around the nation. The referral services for all three South Florida counties -- Broward (First Call for Help), Miami-Dade (Swithchboard of Miami) and Palm Beach (Centerline) -- are implementing the taxonomy. It includes a coded, five-level hierarchy of services in ten categories, as well as definitions for all services.
• As part of its implementation of the new taxonomy, First Call for Help will classify the services provided by the organizations in its current database in 1998. The CCB's Community Assessment and Shared Information Network Committees will work with representatives of First Call for Help to ensure the feasibility of using this taxonomy more broadly, after which it will be brought to the Steering Committee and the CCB for adoption.

• Standardized organizational profiles will be the primary mechanism for gathering information about resource allocation from entities that participate in the funding and provision of health, education and human services in Broward County. Organizations will be required to provide information about resource allocation to the specific set of services they provide or fund, and keep that information updated on at least an annual basis.
• Distinct organizational profiles are planned for funders and resource allocators, on the one hand, and service providers, on the other. Draft lists of the components of funder and provider organizational profiles are included in Attachments 1 and 2. Once the system is fully integrated it should be possible to aggregate information from either side and achieve the same summary of how resources are allocated to health, education and human services in Broward County.
• Once adopted, standardized organizational profiles should be accepted for any participation in the shared information network and related activities, including grant applications, needs assessments, surveys and monitoring activities. They will become part of the "shared" information maintained by each organization that participates in the shared information network.
• The Community Assessment Committee will continue to work with the Children's Assessment Sub-Committee to develop the draft organizational profiles, and will bring these to the Steering Committee and the CCB for approval.

• A Memorandum of Understanding is proposed for signature by members of the CCB. It will commit CCB members to require that standardized organizational profiles be provided and updated at least annually by all organizations that wish to be funded or have access to the shared information network. It will establish access to e-mail as a pre-requisite for participation in the shared information network. It also will require that the standardized organizational profile be accepted by funders and other participants in the shared information network to meet the requirements for equivalent information in grant applications, needs assessments, surveys and monitoring activities.
• A draft Memorandum of Understanding will be presented to the Steering Committee and the CCB in conjunction with the draft standardized organizational profiles for approval at the same time.
• The standardized organizational profiles, over time, should be integrated into grant applications and other information-gathering forms used by health, education and human service agencies in Broward County, replacing the institutional capability sections currently required. The profiles also should serve as the basis for institutional linkage to the shared information network. Although preparation of the profiles in the format to be requested will constitute an "new" activity for each participating organization, it will initiate the process of building a common language and joining the shared network.

• A temporary database will be necessary to gather and tabulate information from the countywide resource inventory because only some of the organizations involved in the funding and provision of health, education and human services in Broward County will be integrated into the shared information network in the first few years.
• The development and maintenance of this temporary database will have to be undertaken by an organization to be selected by the CCB, and will entail the actual design of the database, development of input and tabulation applications, data input and the preparation of reports as needed. The applications to be developed could include options for data entry by each participating organization into a diskette-based application or over the Internet, with a concomitant reduction in data entry by the host agency.
• The needs assessment for children's issues currently under development by the Children's Assessment Sub-committee will offer an opportunity for initial utilization of the organizational profiles and the initial design of routines for tabulation of the resource inventory.
• The Community Assessment Committee will develop a conceptual design for the temporary database structure for data intake and tabulation, including specification of the necessary applications and a proposal for the phased implementation of the countywide resource inventory. Actual implementation will require separate funding. The proposal will be taken to the Steering Committee and the CCB for approval and for funding.

• The agency that temporarily hosts the countywide resource inventory will oversee the implementation of the inventory, with support from the Community Assessment Committee. This will include development of the database and associated applications, correct classification of the services funded or provided by participating organizations in Broward County, and assurance of the comprehensiveness of the inventory. It also will be necessary to establish the institutional capability to ensure the correct interpretation of the results of the countywide resource inventory. These activities will require resources that have not yet been committed.
• The Community Assessment Committee will identify organizations with relevant roles within the health, education and human service delivery system where the inventory could be hosted, and bring recommendations to the Steering Committee and the CCB.

• The neighborhood pilot projects being developed in three areas of Broward County are in various stages of preparing resource inventories and conducting asset mapping for each selected area. The resource inventories in the pilot projects should adopt the same taxonomy for service identification that will be used in the countywide resource inventory. Asset mapping gathers information about the citizen and community resources that each neighborhood may be able to bring to the pursuit of its identified priorities, and, to the extent possible, should use the same taxonomy. The countywide resource inventory then would provide a framework for evaluating the resources available in each neighborhood compared to Broward County as a whole.
• The Community Assessment Committee will work with the three neighborhood teams to share both information and methodological approaches to gathering, tabulating and presenting the information.

• Development of the countywide resource inventory will be undertaken prior to full implementation of the shared information network, and will help to lay some of the groundwork for that effort. It is for this reason that a temporary host for the inventory will be required. However, once the primary funders and providers of health, education and human services in Broward County have begun to participate in the shared information network, the countywide resource inventory will become a component of the network. Standardized organizational profiles will become a required element of shared information for each participant, and the aggregation of data for the countywide resource inventory will be accomplished by authorized users through network applications.

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The table that follows summarizes the primary steps in the proposed methodology for developing the countywide resource inventory, together with a timeline for proposed activities through June of 1998.

CCB = Coordinating Council of Broward; CAC = Community Assessment Committee

SFRPC = South Florida Regional Planning Council; CSB = Children's Services Board

• Organization Name
• Main Address
• Telephone/Fax/E-Mail/WWW Site
• Members of the Board of Directors
• Name of CEO/Executive Director
• Name of Fiscal Officer
• Name of Contact Person for Grants
• Federal Identification Number
• Statement of Organization Mission

• Funding Sources by Program/Service (Taxonomy)
• Organizations Funded
• Programs/Services Funded (Taxonomy)
• Chronology for Funding Cycle
• Most Recent Operating Budget
• Audited Financial Statements (3 years)

• Certificate of Insurance
• Corporate Resolution
• Statement of Non-Profit Status (501(c)(3), etc.)
• Licenses

• Organization Name
• Main Address
• Telephone/Fax/E-Mail/WWW Site
• Members of the Board of Directors
• Name of CEO/Executive Director
• Name of Fiscal Officer
• Name of Contact Person for Grants
• Federal Identification Number
• Statement of Organization Mission

• Personnel/Professional and Demographic Characteristics
• Service Locations, Hours of Service, Service Area Boundaries
• Programs/Services Provided (Taxonomy)
• Service Capacity
• Clients Served/Demographic Characteristics
• Most Recent Operating Budget
• Funding Sources and Expenditures by Program/Service (Taxonomy)
• Audited Financial Statements (3 years)

• Certificate of Insurance
• Corporate Resolution
• Statement of Non-Profit Status (501(c)(3), etc.)
• Licenses