“Unlike the statistics that make up a deficit-oriented community assessment, those that are gathered for a community profile become a part of a comprehensive, strengths-based assessment that expresses residents’ knowledge of their community. ... It should be recognized, however, that gathering information is an ongoing process that does not end when initial data collection is completed.”
Know Your Community, Family Support America
In 1993, the Oregon Legislature envisioned a comprehensive and integrated system of supports and services for Oregon's children and families that would be coordinated at the county level. In 1999 the Oregon Legislature revisited that vision by passing Senate Bill 555, which established a state policy requiring state agencies to work in partnership with local communities to plan, coordinate, and provide services for Oregon's children and families. It defined the role for the local commissions on children and families to coordinate and facilitate community-based comprehensive planning. The planning process engages the community in assessing the needs, assets and strengths and examining our capacity to support children, youth, and their families. The Marion County Children and Families Commission brings community partners together in this collaborative process to produce a plan that reflects the needs of the entire county. By engaging in this integrated, coordinated planning process, Marion County ensures that the whole service delivery system is more collaborative, more inclusive, and more effective. Marion County is committed to a dynamic planning process, updating information on an ongoing basis to reflect new information, revised data, new ideas, changing circumstances and opportunities.