Materials Needed

• Flip chart paper
• 4 different colors of sticky notes (100 of each color)
• Pens
• Copies of the SWOT Analysis Worksheet

Activity Instructions

1. Gather coalition members, leaders, and interested citizens. Try to keep the group size small - around 8-10 people. Larger groups may be harder to organize, but if you have a larger group, consider breaking into smaller teams.
2. Designate a color sticky note to each letter of SWOT.
3. Give 10-15 sticky notes of each color to every group member as well as a copy of the worksheet.
4. Have each group member do the following:

• Think about strengths and weaknesses local to your community and have them write each item on its own sticky note. Make sure they have the readiness results to use while brainstorming.
• Next, do the same with opportunities and threats external to the community.
• Next, have the group work together to categorize the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
  • They can do this by putting their sticky notes on the larger flip chart paper for each category and consolidating their ideas.
• Groups may need to discuss items and come to a consensus on some ideas. Perhaps somebody lists something as a strength, but it may be an opportunity instead.

Use the sheet below to help guide group members as they come up with ideas for each category.

Save these ideas as you can use this information in the action planning process to help narrow down specific objectives to reach your goals.

If your community is not able to conduct an assessment, you can estimate your community readiness levels by conducting a brief assessment using the following procedure.

You may choose to do this in a variety of settings – as an online survey, face-to-face in a group setting, or through email. The procedures may be somewhat different depending on the method of delivery.

1. Choose at least 10 key respondents from your community
2. Clearly define your issue and community to the respondents. Provide them with a form or a box in which they can record their scores for each dimension.
3. Tell them that you would like them to rate the identified community as related to the issue on a series of dimensions. Emphasize that it is very important that they rate the actual state of the community not what they would like to see. Remember: there are no “good” or “bad” scores
4. Present each respondent (by email, online, or in person) with the rating scale for Community Knowledge of Efforts, including a brief description of the dimension above the rating scale. You may need to remind them again what the issue and community are. Or you can substitute the issue and community into the appropriate places in the anchored rating scales.
5. Guide them through the scoring process, giving them the following directions:
   • Start with the first anchored rating statement. If the community exceeds the first statement, proceed to the next statement.
   • Continue until you cannot move on to the next statement in the rating scale.
   • In order to receive a score at a certain stage, the entire statement must be true.
   • You do not have to use whole numbers in choosing a score.
   • Record your score in the appropriate place.
   • Respondents should score individually, without discussion.
6. Present each respondent with the rating scale for Leadership, and once again, guide them through the scoring process using the directions in #5 above. (Provide the definition of Leadership found in the interview template.) Proceed to the other dimensions.
7. You may ask respondents to give a written explanation of their score. Use probing questions from the interview template or simply ask why they chose that score.

If respondents are completing this in a group setting, you can work toward consensus scores for each dimension:

• Ask each individual to write their score for Community Knowledge of Efforts on a flipchart or board, without discussion.
• After all scores are revealed, have each individual explain their score.
• Hold a group discussion about the scores for 15 minutes or until a consensus score is reached, encouraging all individuals to speak. Take notes on the discussion.
• Follow the same procedure for each dimension. If respondents are completing this in a non-group setting, average the scores for each dimension across all respondents and summarize the respondent comments. These are your final community readiness scores.