 The
United Way of Santa Cruz County and Applied Survey Research (ASR)
are celebrating the 13th year of the Community Assessment Project
(CAP) of Santa Cruz County. Since 1994, ASR has measured the quality
of life in the county in the areas of the economy, public safety,
health, education, and the natural and social environments. The
goal of the CAP is to take a snap shot of the county each year by
looking at over 120 indicators such as unemployment, housing costs,
crime rates, children's health status, high school dropout rates,
racial discrimination, and levels of pollution in our rivers.
The
year 2007 marks the 13th year of the CAP and provides the opportunity
to track trends over the last several years as well as the current
realities in the county. The indicators are measured by primary
public opinion data and secondary or empirical trend data. The results
are used to assist members of the community in steering public policy
and services towards meeting goals that are agreed upon by the community.
The
initiative was designed and implemented by a consortium of public
and private health, education, human service and civic organizations,
and was launched by The United Way of Santa Cruz County in partnership
with the City and County of Santa Cruz, Dominican Santa Cruz Hospital,
Watsonville Community Hospital, the County Office of Education,
and the S.H. Cowell Foundation.
The
Santa Cruz CAP project has been so successful that the model for
this project was ranked by the UCLA School of Public Health as one
of the best in the nation. Data from the CAP project have helped
to launch community initiatives such as Together for Youth / Unidos
Para Nuestros Jovenes, aimed at drug use prevention among teens;
the Latino Strategic Planning Committee, aimed at educating and
empowering Latinos county-wide; the Santa Cruz County Homeless 2000, 2005, and 2007 Census and Survey to count and survey the homeless; and
Go For Health, a new initiative to undertake the problem of youth
obesity in the county.
ASR
has conducted similar community assessment studies in the counties
of Lake, Monterey, Nevada, San Joaquin, and San Luis Obispo, and in Anchorage, Alaska.
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You will need a free program, Adobe Acrobat reader, to view those files which are in PDF format:
The reports are also available for $28 at the United Way Office, 1220 41st Avenue, Capitola, CA, 95010; telephone 831-479-5466.
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