Step 2: Assess Your Community - Build a Healthy Community - Home

Step 2 takes a snapshot of your community to help develop your understanding of its strengths, needs and opportunities.

Strive to understand your community from several different angles for a comprehensive picture of what exists, what can be built upon and what is needed.

Understanding the community context

By gathering and organizing available information about your community as a whole and assessing existing information/data, your team is better situated to see the bigger picture of your broader community context. Below are some ideas for gathering information about your community.

Search your community online	Learn about its size, the economic drivers , location, recreational aspects, physical features (built and natural), local government, age groups, income range and other demographic information.
Go offline	Pick-up a local paper or newsletter, check out posters, displays and billboards; visit your local tourist centre; look for special attractions, community news and upcoming events.
Visit municipal buildings	Find a contact or tour around to become more acquainted with these important local settings.
Talk to everyone	Gather information in formal and informal settings about what is important to local citizens.
Observe	Walk around your neighbourhood and note what you see.
Learn about past projects	Find out if there have been community surveys, assessments, plans, and/or projects undertaken in the past that you can build on.

Alberta Cancer Prevention Legacy Fund has developed the following templates to help gather information about your community:

Community profile

As you gather information about your community, it’s helpful to put it all in one place. Completing the Community Profile template will prompt numerous ideas about what information to collect, as well as interesting ways to capture the information using diagrams and graphs.

Visit the Tools to Build a Healthy Community page to download the Community Profile template

Community asset map

A visual tool, asset maps show the community in a positive light by clearly marking resources, connections and ‘gifts’ in and around a community on a map of the region. Asset maps compliment community profiles by creating an even more comprehensive picture of your locale.

Diagram adapted from the Asset-Based Community Development Institute (2016)

Collective team assets inventory

Supplement your community asset map by mapping the strengths, skills, and personal connections of individual team members. Try the Collective Team Assets Inventory for gathering the talents, skills, passions and interests of your team. Team resources can be leveraged as part of developing a community action plan.

Visit the Tools to Build a Healthy Community page to download Collective Team Assets Inventory template

Alberta Cancer Prevention Legacy Fund has also developed the following tools to help you assess your community:

Community Capacity Assessment Tool (CCAT)

Community capacity is closely related to the idea of asset-based community development as it helps teams identify and address aspects of leadership, resource mobilization, skill-building opportunities, the existing culture, communication, and partnerships within a community.

Learn more here.

Healthy Places Action Tool (HPAT)

HPAT helps communities appreciate how much their social and physical environments support good health, which in turn contributes to the prevention of chronic conditions, including cancer. This tool assists you to:

Identify community strengths and areas for improvement
Get a snapshot of the community’s characteristics
Define improvement areas to guide action on policy and environmental changes that influence healthy living

Learn more here.

Comprehensive Cancer Prevention Profiles

Local geographic area (LGA) profiles can help your team achieve a broader understanding of your community, and contribute to evidence-informed decisions.

View a profile of a community near you