Hartford, the Capital of U.S. State Connecticut.

¶ … Hartford, the capital of U.S. state Connecticut. As of the census of 2010, Hartford has the population of 124,775. More than 30% population of Hartford lives below the poverty line. The average income of the family is only 22,000.

Poverty is acting as a huge barrier in growth of the city. The families are even striving to meet the basic needs of life so the point of growth is far away from the reach of the city. Poverty is influencing the school dropout rate. Youth is unable to get higher education and consequently there are no good jobs for them. The economy of the city is going down due to same reasons. (Landscape Report on Hartford)

In order to assess issues related to poverty, we have to follow the needs assessment method so that to identify the problems faced by the population, set priorities, strategies and allocate resources to improve the conditions and reduce inequalities in the community.

The process of needs assessment can be conducted using different methods of program appraisals. These include survey approach, key informant approach and secondary data. The main purpose of this assignment is to evaluate approaches and identify the best in this case.

Q2: Key informant approach is quick and inexpensive approach and may also provide benefits for later research as well. However, the information collected through key informant approach may be biased since information comes from the service providers and not the service customers. Moreover, the number of informants selected for survey may not be big enough to generalize their results for the whole community.

In comparison to key informant approach, survey approach is more reliable since it provides data from the large range of individuals. It not collects people's opinion but this approach may also be used to assess the behavior. However, this method of data collection is expensive than the other and it also requires more technical skills to ensure correct application of method.

Q3: In order to implement key informant approach in case Hartford poverty problem, we will need to formalize advisory group including experts from departments of donor groups, volunteer services, youth enrichment programs or youth leaders, economy experts, human service administrators, law enforcement officers and so on. The group will be interviewed and asked about their improvement suggestions regarding the issues prevailing in the city due to poverty.

In order to conduct survey approach, we would need to collect information from the people who are living life below poverty line in Hartford. Questionnaires and focus group interviews can be conducted to assess the attitude of people.