Chenango United Way

"Together, we are building a movement, a United Way Movement that makes meaningful changes

in people's lives" (The Essential Attributes of a Community Impact United Way, United Way of America, 2003)

To the Community of Chenango County:

The 2005-2008 Community Needs Assessment is a comprehensive report outlining the areas of most critical and emerging need

in Chenango County. (This file is large and may take time to open)
» View the Community Needs Assessment

The Executive Summary describes the need areas, which are: Aging of the Population; Opportunities for Young People; the

Poverty Issues of Housing and Hunger; and Access to Health Care.
» View the Executive Summary

The Vision Chart shows the Chenango United Way's plan for need areas for the future years.

Chenango United Way initiated and provided primary leadership for the compilation of this community needs assessment, in an

effort to update the 1998 report and to begin transitioning to the community impact model being championed by the United Way

of America and United Way of New York State. This "Community Impact" initiative at the national level began in 2003. The

attention focuses on building collaborations with community agencies to address specific needs of local communities. In addition,

the Chenango United Way has outlined the reasons for and the means to build the collaborations necessary to move to a model

that can make meaningful change in Chenango County.

At the start of this process, Chenango United Way recognized that much work had been done throughout the Chenango community

to amass health and human service information from both primary and secondary data sources. As a result, the report is based

primarily on the secondary data found in many local organizational assessments. The goal of this project was not to recreate

data sources, but to utilize and bring together the wealth of information that already existed in the community. Upstate Institute

at Colgate University was recruited in early 2004 to serve as a third party information gleaner and compiler. They provided the

necessary objectivity to bring together this mass of existing data into a comprehensive report outlining the areas of most critical

and emerging need in Chenango County.

As with any community project of this size, the efforts of many people deserve recognition. First and foremost, thank you to Jill

Tiefenthaler, Associate Dean of the Faculty and Director of the Upstate Institute at Colgate University, for your enthusiasm and

commitment to this project, as well as to Kevin McAvey, student intern for his work in the extensive data collection. Thank you to

Greg Fuller and Joyce Zummo, Needs Assessment Co-Chairs, for all of your hard work and dedication to this undertaking. And,

thank you to the community of Chenango County for sharing with us your thoughts, ideas and data.

While Chenango United Way views this community needs assessment as an internal tool for directing future work of United Way,

this assessment also serves as a tool for the community-at-large, a community where the needs are addressed through the

efficient and effective delivery of services…a community where results matter.

Chenango United Way

27 West Main Street • Norwich, NY 13815

607.334.8815 Office • 607.334.8830 Fax

Last Update: March 8, 2008