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Official Website

of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

    The .gov means its official.

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    Links to Technical Assistance

    Understanding Health Statistics

    How to Collect, Calculate, Analyze, and Present Health Statistics:

    • Tools of the Trade - A series of special reports that present and discuss the various statistical measurements, analytical methods, graphics, and data collection and processing methods commonly used with health statistics. Microsoft Excel files for calculating age-adjusted rates and standard morbidity ratios can be downloaded from these web pages.
    • Small Area Analysis – Step-by-step flow charts for users to easily calculate reliable rates/ratios and to compare rates/ratios for significance. Links are provided in the flow charts to the appropriate Tools of the Trade report for calculating/using statistics.

    ACHI Community Health Assessment Toolkit

    A guide for planning, leading and using community health needs assessments to better understand -- and ultimately improve -- the health of communities. It presents a suggested assessment framework from beginning to end in six steps, and provides practical guidance drawn from experienced professionals and a variety of proven tools.

    Community Assessment Guidebook

    The Community Assessment Guide Book was developed by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and provides easy-to-follow guidelines that help communities determine the health status of their local residents, establish priorities for improving health, develop effective interventions, and evaluate the impact of public health programs and policies.

    NOTE : Click on the link for Community Assessment Guide Book in the second paragraph or under the Handouts and Information section.

    Community Health Assessment Clearinghouse

    This site provides tools, ideas, resources, examples, and training for developing effective community public health assessments.

    NOTE : Developed primarily for use by New York state communities by the New York State Department of Health.

    Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships

    Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) is a community-wide strategic planning tool for improving community health developed by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). This site leads you through the process and offers many community health assessment tools to help prioritize public health issues and identify resources for addressing them.

    CDC Assessment Initiative

    Assessment in Public Health

    Provides baseline information and discussion on:

    • What is Assessment;
    • What is CDC’s Assessment Initiative; and
    • State Initiative Assessment Projects.

    Assessment Resources

    Provides direct links to community assessment tools developed by various public health organizations and states.

    Community Health Improvement Process (CHIP)

    Displays a list of selected community health improvement process (CHIP) and community health assessment (CHA) resources. There are links to and descriptions of CHIP guides or handbooks, and resources for conducting specific CHIP-related activities.

    Healthy People - Tools for Action

    This site provides guidance, tools and resources to help states, territories and tribes develop Healthy People plans, and community health planning.

    Cancer Plan and Cancer Control Planet (Linked web sites)

    Comprehensive Cancer Control Plans

    CDC.gov is an interactive web site that provides Comprehensive Cancer Control (CCC) resources, tools, state practices, and links to assist state and community cancer planners to develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive cancer plans. CDC.gov contains a user-friendly Community Assessment Tool to assist state and community planning coalitions to conduct quality, data-based assessments.

    Cancer Control PLANET

    The PLANET portal provides access to Web-based resources that can assist in:

    • Assessing the cancer and/or risk factor burden within a given state;
    • Identifying potential partner organizations that may already be working with high-risk populations;
    • Understanding the current research findings and recommendations;
    • Accessing and downloading evidence-based programs and products; and
    • Finding guidelines for planning and evaluation.

    Center for Schools and Communities

    The Center for Schools and Communities has been committed to improving outcomes for children and families through training, technical assistance, program evaluation, research and resource development. The Center supports Education, Community & Family, and Violence Prevention initiatives funded primarily by the Pennsylvania Departments of Education, Health and Public Welfare. Technical assistance is provided through on-site visits, telephone support, trainings and conferences, publications, resources, and websites.