By the culmination of the course, you will have outlined the specific activities necessary to create a realistic intervention for a public health project designed to reach an attainable goal for a select target population.

For this assignment, you will complete the first step of this project with an assessment of a target population or community and a health issue. In a narrative of 1,250 words, address each of the following parts of the community needs assessment:

1. Describe the public health issue to be assessed.
2. Describe the community and region to be assessed: Your community can be defined by geography (i.e., neighborhood, city, state, etc.) and/or by specific target population (i.e., immigrants, race/ethnic group, elderly, etc.).
3. Identify population needs and assets that influence the health issue for this community. Provide evidence to support the identified needs and assets. Sources of data include past published community needs assessments; county health rankings, BRFSS, state government agencies, chambers of commerce, nonprofit organizations, community health centers.
4. Describe health disparities that exist and discuss what drives those disparities (policies, cultural norms, systems, etc.).
5. Describe cultural needs: Discuss the cultural values and practices that will need to be considered in the design of a program for this community.
6. Describe overall challenges and barriers to addressing the public health issue with this community.

You are required to cite to five sources to complete this assignment.