By CHRIS GAROFOLO

BRATTLEBORO -- The United Way of Windham County publicly released its Community Needs Assessment executive summary Tuesday morning.

The second needs assessment completed by the organization since 2001, the summary provides United Way leaders an opportunity to "take the pulse of the community" and gauge the foremost issues of Windham County residents.

According to United Way Executive Director Carmen Derby, the needs assessment looks at what issues residents are facing in the county and ways to continue improving on the identified strengths and weaknesses.

"We will now be taking a look at the priorities as they are listed," she said.

In alphabetical order, they are -- affordable housing, child care, education, elder services, health care access, jobs (and employment) and transportation.

The data reports in detail about the positives and negatives in each particular category and potential ideas to improve services. The complete list is available at the United Way Web site, www.unitedwaywindham.org.

As a result of the pros and cons of the assessment, the participants recommended United Way serve as a catalyst for planning and action in the region and take a more direct lead as the "tugboat of the human services ship."

In addition, United Way received advice on engaging the community to implement the assessment by building awareness of the data, advocating for towns and other nonprofit to act and to potentially establish a quarterly progress report.

Nearly 70 people attended the presentation at the Brattleboro Retreat on Tuesday morning.

After analyzing the data, United Way officials conducted a random telephone survey of 305 households, interviewed leaders from a variety of Windham County sectors and held eight focus groups in three different towns.

"The strengths, weaknesses and improvements were all determined by the interviews done with the focus groups, consumer surveys and key leaders," said Derby.

The benefit of completing a new needs assessment is it provides a data sheet for tracking the figures within the county, creating a valuable resource for organizations looking for information regarding any of the high priority issues.

Compared to the initial assessment completed in 2002, Derby said this current one is done in a different format and is much more user-friendly. Not only is it easier to read, but the entirety of the needs assessment is at the organization’s Web site.

"This is one place where all this information has been pulled together," she said.

John Swartz, field director with the Vermont Agency of Human Services, said the community needs assessment is beneficial at the state level because it helps the agency make the case their are unmet needs in the region.

"It’s very useful for nonprofits when they apply for grants," he said. "They are able to cite documentation of various needs within the county."

In the future, Derby hopes other community-based organizations will continue to focus on the issues put forth in this assessment, leading to an increase in collaboration work between the county’s nonprofits.

"Hopefully this will open up discussions on all that," she said.

Chris Garofolo can be reached at cgarofolo@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 275.