Agenda - 05-19-1998 - 9g - Laserfiche WebLink

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Hertford Counties. This particular implcmcntation wilt be extended to I Q more eastern counties in the near future. We have also been involved with the assessment and adoption of I & R systems in Forsyth. Buncombe, Madison, Henderson, Transylvania and Ctavcn Couurics. $ack . q~und During the fall and wiIItcr of 1996, the Advisory Board of the Orange Resource Connections defined and helped implement an information wad referral system to be used by human srnice providers is Orange County. The Advisory Board wanted the rystcm to be accessibic to anyone in the county who weeded it, Ieadzng to collecting data from the system to assess community needs. Due to a lack of project funding, the software necessary to develop the data collection system was not purchased initially but the County and United Way planed tv put this plan into place eventually.. Although many more programs wad a;rncics have access to updated data, no more software has been purchased to implement the assessment plans. There is also question as to whether the system is being used successfully and meeting expectations. An attempt leas been made to assess the program's "success"; however, expectations and success were never defined. This pr~opasai includes a baseline measurement of cxpe~ctazions and success, as well as the dcvelopmcrrt of assessment goals. Six activities (phases) aze proposed to support the entreat call-in system. These include as assessment, updating mechanisms, development of the Orange $ook, system support, a mazkctiag plan and a World Wide Web read-only version of the ORC. ` ~~I3Se 1 - ASSt.73Bient _ This phase will include 3 tasks: dcvcloping assessment instruments, assessing the sys-em and analyzing the data. The Information and Referral assessment will include questions about cxgcctations for the system, if the system is meeting expectations, and what changes need to be made to allow expe~ctativns to be reached and to overcome barriers to the system. The assessment will also include questions about what kind of data the County needs thz system to retrieve. Task L- Devclon Assessment lustrtuncnts One instrument will be developed to tncasurc the expectations of an information and referral system. A second instrument will be developed far users of the rystcm as to their use of the database, data and reporting needs, barriers to using the systcm~ and changes that are needed. Faculty members at the School ,of Social Work will review these instruments foz ficc validity. Task Z -Assess Users The first instrument will be sent to rystem users and county leaders to obtain information on expectations for the system. The instrument will be mailed to recipients, and follow-up phone calls will be made to obtain the information from unrcturncd surveys. We will not analyze data until we have 75% of surveys returned.