Analyzing Community Needs

Community Conversations is a series of discussions held with community members and leaders from Greensboro and High Point. During these conversations, common barrier themes and solutions are discussed. In this Community Conversation, GuilfordWorks partnered with East Greensboro Now Inc. and Goodwill Industries of Central NC, Inc. to facilitate over a dozen important discussions on various topics. Vital questions were asked and discussed to determine the community’s needs regarding employment, training, and barriers to entering the workforce. Through these conversations, we discovered the following barrier themes:

• lack of access to technology;
• transportation barriers;
• childcare needs;
• lack of awareness about resources and services in the community;
• how to access those resources and services.

(L-R) Rhonda Pass, Goodwill Industries of Central NC, Program Director, Mac Simms, President of East Greensboro Now and Danielle Harrison, GuilfordWorks’ Assistant Director.

Breaking Down Barriers

During the report out,  Danielle Harrison, Assistant Director at GuilfordWorks, explains how the organization analyzed unemployment rates in Greensboro and High Point to address the needs of specific communities, she states, “East Greensboro and South High Point had unemployment rates as high as 24%.”  In analyzing these findings, barrier themes such as transportation and lack of access to technology were discovered, and GuilfordWorks was able to utilize the Mobile Career Center to help address some hurdles job seekers in these communities are facing.

Working Together to Solve Problems

In uncovering potential solutions to the issues local communities face, Rhonda Pass, Program Director of Goodwill Industries of Central NC explains how the emphasis on partnerships plays a vital role in addressing the needs, especially being able to increase awareness about resources and services available to the community.

“We have to, as organizations and agencies in this community, realize the importance of partnerships because we have to start unlocking the power of partnerships – no one agency or organization can do it all, but together we can make an impact in this community.”

–Rhonda Pass, Goodwill Industries of Central North Carolina

Through these Community Conversations, more partnerships can be established to address a wider scope of barriers every community faces. East Greensboro Now president, Mac Simms, also explains that when organizations work together, they can make a difference to so many people.

“But together, we can reach a lot more people, reach those needs and make a difference.”

–Mac Simms, President of East Greensboro Now

Watch the Community Conversations Report Out video to learn about the issues facing citizens in Guilford County and the next steps in resolving these problems through these organizations and in these local communities.

Conclusion

These Community Conversations resulted in each organization using data from existing barriers to continue to build stronger partnerships, increase organizational presence in the community, meet residents where they are, and spread awareness of resources for the community.