Culturally Relevant Needs Assessment Cohort
The Culturally Relevant Needs Assessment cohort will be led by Dr. Andrea Girón Mathern, the founder of Centrality Research. As a cohort member, you will:
- gain knowledge and tools to conduct a culturally relevant community needs assessment to identify community members’ needs, priorities, and interests;
- develop skills in both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods that center the community;
- practice implementing quantitative and/or qualitative methods to collect data from community members;
- expand your awareness of approaches that are culturally responsive and relevant when gathering feedback from community members; and
- connect with public library workers around the state engaged in similar work.
If you work in outreach, community engagement, public programs, or evaluating public programs and services, then the Culturally Relevant Needs Assessment cohort would be a good fit for you.
Overview
The deadline to apply for the Culturally Relevant Needs Assessment cohort is October 4, 2024 at 5:00 pm.
To be eligible to participate in the cohort, you must work in a California public library. If you are accepted to the cohort, you will be expected to commit to the following activities:
- Participation in an in-person, one-day kickoff workshop in Sacramento, California on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 (stipends will be provided to cover travel costs including airfare, ground transportation, mileage, lodging, and meals) — this activity is required of all cohort members.
- Ten 90-minute online sessions, meeting approximately every other week between December 2024 and April 2025 (please make your best effort to participate in these sessions live; however, recordings will be available):
- Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
- Monday, December 16, 2024, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
- Monday, January 6, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
- Wednesday, January 22, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
- Monday, February 3, 2025, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
- Wednesday, February 19, 2025, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
- Monday, March 3, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
- Wednesday, March 19, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
- Monday, April 7, 2025, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
- Wednesday, April 23, 2025, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
- Approximately three hours of offline, independent work per month between December and April.
- Completion of a needs assessment project prior to the culminating workshop in May that involves collecting data from community members. This means that you will use methods including but not limited to surveys and/or interviews to assess community members’ needs, interests, and priorities.
- Participation in an in-person, one-day culminating workshop on May 7, 2025 (stipends will be provided to cover travel costs including airfare, ground transportation, mileage, lodging, and meals). The location of this workshop will be announced after the cohort has formed.
Multiple applications from a single library system are permitted. Up to 45 cohort spots are available. Should demand exceed space available, we will prioritize the following factors when selecting cohort members:
- Maximizing the number of library systems that participate
- Applicants from libraries with lower Local Income per Capita
In the application, you will be asked to provide a brief paragraph (maximum of 200 words) describing why you want to participate in the cohort learning experience. Your response will be evaluated based on the following characteristics (maximum of 25 points):
- Enthusiasm in participating (5 points)
- Interest in using culturally relevant methods to identify community members’ needs, priorities, and interests (10 points)
- Commitment to working with/learning about all community members, especially those not currently engaged with the library (10 points)
Cohort members will be selected based on their paragraph scores as well as the priority factors listed above (maximizing the number of library systems that participate and applicants from libraries with lower Local Income Per Capita).
Application Process
To be considered for a cohort spot, you must submit an application.
Note: in the online application, you cannot save your responses and return to them at a later time to continue working. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you preview the cohort application, prepare your answers in a separate document, and then copy and paste this information when you submit your application.
Cohort applications are due by 5:00 pm on Friday, September 27, 2024. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance status by October 11, 2024.
Questions? Please contact Linda Hofschire, Community-Centered Libraries Project Manager, at linda@ljh-consulting.net.