Tools & Resources
NeighborWorks America
NeighborWorks America highlights training and resources available to support government leaders in tackling some of the nation's biggest housing and community development challenges. It can be found in the Government guide under...
Franklin Regional Council of Governments
This website (from the Franklin Regional Council of Governments), is an example of a small rural county using cooperative purchasing to service their region. The Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) is a regional service organization serving the twenty-six towns of Franklin County, the most rural county in Massachusetts. The FRCOG is the former county government, which was...
National Conference of State Legislatures
This website (from the National Conference of State Legislatures) provides resources for Health Impact Assessments. NCSL is a bipartisan champion providing resources and tools to improve the quality and effectiveness of state legislatures. This resource can be found in the Government Guide under...
Nominal Group Technique
This tool (from ASQ) is a structured method for group brainstorming that encourages contributions from everyone.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) connects local organizations and community leaders with resources to revitalize neighborhoods and improve quality of life. They offer a useful toolkit including loans, grants, equity investments and on-the-ground experience in some of the most vulnerable communities. This resource can be found in the...
Advocacy Progress Planner
This is a free online tool (from the Aspen Institute) that provides a template for planning your advocacy/policy evaluation approach.
Action Plan Worksheet
This tool (from CHR&R) is a template that will help you create a detailed action plan expressed in terms of goals, objectives and activities with expected results. This tool and more guidance on how and when to use it can be found in...
Handbook for Participatory Community Assessments
This tool (from the Alameda County, CA Health Department) walks through the process the department undertook with two neighborhood groups to conduct participatory community assessments.
Assessing and Addressing Community Health Needs
This tool developed by the Catholic Health Association is a comprehensive guide to community health assessments that incorporates requirements from both the PPACA and the Internal Revenue Services.
This resource can be found in Assess Needs & Resources under ...
Community Commons
This website allows users to create custom maps using data from multiple data sources. The site's blog is designed for communities to learn from and share with each other.