United Way of Greater St. Louis
Service Provider Network Needs Assessment
Project Date
Jan 2017—Jun 2017
Type of Evaluation
Needs assessment
Setting
Community-based
Overview
United Way 2-1-1 and its Accountable Health Communities Model partners (now the Partnership to Advance Health Equity) initiated an assessment of service providers in the St. Louis region related to six impact areas: housing instability and quality, food insecurity, utilities, interpersonal violence, transportation, and behavioral health.
The Evaluation Center partnered with them to design and implement the needs assessment.
Project Description
Background
In January 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a funding opportunity to establish forty-four Accountable Health Communities. These communities were to identify and address health-related social needs in the core impact areas of:
- Housing Instability and Quality
- Food Insecurity
- Utilities Needs
- Interpersonal Violence
- Transportation Needs Beyond Medical Transportation
- Behavioral Health (added by the St. Louis partners)
In anticipation of starting Year 1 grant activities immediately after securing funding from Missouri Foundation for Health, United Way of Greater St. Louis and its Accountable Health Communities Model partners conducted a needs assessment of community service providers and their capacity for serving more clients during the grant period.
The grant was not awarded to the St. Louis region. However, the partners had a strong interest in pursuing the grants’ goals so they moved forward with the work, ultimately forming the Partnership to Advance Health Equity (PAHE).
Evaluation Center Activities
- Engaged key leaders from United Way and its AHCM partners through planning meetings, survey review, and key indicators review to help inform the needs assessment.
- Conducted a web-based survey of community service providers helped us better understand the agencies serving the target population in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and St. Charles County.
- Facilitated four listening sessions to collect qualitative information from service agency representatives about the impact areas.
- Analyzed data from United Way’s 2-1-1 program and secondary data to assess needs among the population in greater St. Louis. This included information about the types of services requested by callers and the outcomes of these referrals.
Our Products
- Service agency survey
- Listening session guides
- Needs assessment report
Project Funder
United Way of Greater St. Louis
Missouri Foundation for Health
Contact Person
