UCHRA set to launch a new region-wide survey to better understand the needs of communities across the Upper Cumberland.
UCHRA Deputy Director LaNelle Godsey said the agency conducts a community needs assessment in all 14 counties every three years. That is required for use of the Community Block Grant program. She said UCHRA then uses the survey results to identify and address the region’s most pressing needs.
“That’s where you see UCHRA come in and kind of targeted or asked to be the gap filler,” Godsey said. “So we are to look to see what’s missing in the region and then try to add that programming to help the residents of the Upper Cumberland.”
Godsey said the survey is still in development and is expected to be available in April. She added that once it launches, it will be critical for as many people across the region as possible to participate.
“We request the help of the community, our policy council, and our partners because we want a good sampling of the Upper Cumberland,” Godsey said. “We would like customers input, clients input, business input, local government, and all of our partner agencies so that we get a clear picture of what the unmet needs are in the Upper Cumberland.”
Godsey said the 2023 assessment identified the region’s top five needs as high-paying jobs, affordable housing, quality employment opportunities, resources for people experiencing homelessness, and access to mental health services. Godsey said food insecurity, somewhat surprisingly, dropped out of the region’s top five needs, and believes that is largely due to efforts put in place following previous community needs assessments.
“That’s been very intriguing to us, and we were doing research and kind of looking at the data of why a need that is always in the top five, why did that drop off?” Godsey said. “Through looking at past data, we saw that there was lots more food during the COVID timeframe, moving into the Upper Cumberland. A lot more partner agencies were distributing food to our residents and our customers, and our friends up here, so we think that kind of met the need during that time period. So we are anxious to see if access to healthy food or just access to food pops back up into the top five this time.”
Godsey said affordable housing has been on several needs assessments and is expected to be on this year’s assessment.
“We have individuals that contact UCHRA daily and weekly, trying to find affordable housing in the Upper Cumberland,” Godsey said.
Godsey also said she expects access to higher-paying jobs to remain as a top need. Godsey said she could be wrong and the region could reveal a completely new need.