Needs Assessment: Informed Consent

Informed Consent Form

Interview/Focus Group Participation

Community Needs Assessment of Coffman Cove

Interviewer:                  Rachael Bazzett, MSW. AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer

Funding Agency:          AmeriCorps VISTA

Purpose of Interview:    The purpose of this interview is to learn about the community of Coffman Cove. The information gained through these interviews will be used to inform the development of programs that will be offered through the Coffman Cove Community Library. This interview has a focus on the economic circumstances of individuals and the community as a whole, including impacts of employment/unemployment, prevalence of subsistence means of living, availability of job opportunities, and availability of learning or skill-training opportunities for residents of Coffman Cove.

Risks/Benefits:             There are no known risks for participating in an interview or focus group for the community needs assessment. The interviews will be recorded, transcribed, and then deleted. Transcripts from the interviews will exist in a digital file that is accessible to only the interviewer. Information collected from this interview will be used in a written community needs assessment that will be made available to the public. Common themes from interviews will be used in this report as well as direct quotes that are free from identifying features. Other demographic information that is collected will be reported in aggregate form.

Your Rights:                 It is your choice to participate in this interview, and you may change your mind about participation at any time. You do not need to answer every question if you do not feel comfortable doing so. Feel free to give the interviewer feedback.

Contact:                        If you have any questions at all, feel free to contact Rachael Bazzett at cclibraryvista@outlook.com, rachael.bazzett@gmail.com or at the Coffman Cove Library at 907-329-2080. 

           I understand what I am being asked to do.

           I agree to participate in an interview.

           I agree to use of direct quotes (free from identifying features) in the needs assessment report.

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Printed Name                                                                                        Date

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Signature

Weekly(ish) Review

Okay, here we go again! I promise, I am going to get back to posting on Fridays..

The past few weeks have been busy with work AND with a visitor! I had a friend come to Coffman last weekend, which is why I neglected to post on Friday...


Anyway, here is what the last few weeks have looked like:

• I got my interview questions solidified for my needs assessment! WAHOO!
• I got one volunteer trained and have been chatting with a few other potential volunteers.
• I was able to meet up with the two other VISTAs on the island, which was really nice. We were able to talk through some challenges and just generally enjoy being together with people who are all in the same boat.
• I attended a two-day grant-writing workshop down the island in Kasaan, which was wonderful, and very well worth my time. I got some really good ideas about grant proposal writing and grant management, and I made some good connections with other people on the island. 
• I went through the preliminary steps to get registered for Kids Vote USA.

Here is what is on the agenda for the next week:

• There is a library board meeting tomorrow, where I will finally get together the "dream list" of tasks to be completed in the library.
• I am going to get out into the community and start interviewing people. I am feeling a little out of my element as I get started with this, but I think it should be fine once I get going. This project is going to take up a LOT of time, so I anticipate that this will be the big one on the agenda for a while.

Weekly(ish) Wrap Up

Well, shoot, I have found myself a bit behind on the blog. I found that I was helping it keep me on track, so I am going to try to jump start myself again this week with keeping posted on what I have been doing.

Here is what was on the agenda from my last post:

• Volunteer manual? This will be worked on throughout the week but may not be finished, as it is up for final review and input from Lynn when she returns.
• Still... working.. on.. it.. 
• Have a final draft of my interview questions. Really! 
• Yes! I have my interview questions ready! I worked a lot at getting input from lots of different people, and I finally have some questions with which I am happy. The UAA Institute for Social and Economic Research has a lot of articles available on their website from various studies and research projects done throughout the state, and I spent a good chunk of time reading those, which helped inform my own thinking around good interview questions.
• Get an event together for Alaska Book Week.This has been dependent on me hearing back from teachers and getting their input, but if I don't nail down a way to coordinate with the schools this week, then I will go ahead and create an event that will not be run during school hours. 
• Whaaamp waaaaah. This one didn't get done, and the time is now passed. I was not able to sufficient contact with people locally who would be interested in getting involved. I will put it onto the calendar for next year, and perhaps with more planning, it can be better achieved. 
• Attend POWCAC (Prince of Wales Community Advisory Council) meeting on Tuesday. This is where people from all the communities on the island come together to discuss matters that impact the people who live on the island.
• This was actually hugely informative in a lot of ways. There is a lot of confusion right now island-wide about the possibility of the communities of Prince of Wales Island forming a borough- which is the equivalent of a county/parish/etc. Currently, POW is unincorporated, which is important in that there is not an extra governing body, no tax mandates, and the like. POWCAC has been working over the last few years on creating a draft borough charter, with the idea that if and when there is a need for borough formation, the communities will already have a document upon which they can all agree. No one, including the members of POWCAC, wants to form a borough, mainly (I think) for reasons regarding property tax. However, as it currently stands, if an outside company wants to come in and log, export resources from the mines, etc., they have the ability to do that without paying anything back to the community. This means that jobs and resources go away without any possible recourse. The borough charter is just being created so that there is the possibility to pull it out in the future, but people in the community have been under the assumption that POWCAC is trying to form a borough without community input- which isn't true, since it has been addressed on a local level through city council meetings over the last few years when it has been in the works. There is good potential here for some educational opportunities about the role of POWCAC, the political process on the island, and the information that has been compiled as they have been researching pros and cons.

I have done a whooooole bunch of other stuff since  my last post, but for the sake of getting on track, I'm going to leave that to your imagination and get back to posting regularly on Fridays.