Video 4: Current Community Condition

Current Community Condition

This section will provide you with an overview of Current Community Conditions

The current community condition is a gap or barrier that is preventing the community from achieving the long-term community goal. While there are probably many conditions the community can identify that stand in the way of reaching the long-term goal, your application should identify one specific condition. The project should measurably reduce or eliminate the condition and bring the community closer to obtaining the long-term goal.

  • This is video four of the 2021 pre-application training videos developed by the Administration for Native Americans Regional Training and Technical Assistance Centers. I'm your trainer today. My name is Drena McIntyre. And I'm with the Alaska Region Training and Technical Assistance Center. The Alaska Region Training and Technical Assistance Center is here to assist the 227 tribes and native nonprofits located in the state of Alaska. We provide free training and technical assistance, and you can reach us at www.anaalaska.org or call 800-948-3158. This is a 16 video series to introduce you to the basic concepts for preparing a 2021 ANA grant application to support your community-based project. There are 16 videos in this series and we urge you to take all 16 in sequence. This is video four of pre-application training: the project framework, and we'll discuss current community condition. The application needs to clearly provide one current community condition that is addressed by the scope of the proposed project. The application will effectively provide baseline information about that project current community condition. When you're developing your current community condition, ask this question: what is the main barrier preventing your community or organization from achieving its longterm community goals? Your current community condition statement should be one sentence in length, should be compelling and urgent, it should contain a measure of the current condition, it can be bolded and italicized to call it out in the narrative, and it should not include "lack of" or "need for" statements. So for example, do not use "lack of" or "need for" statements, like, "We need more jobs in our community." Instead describe evidence of an existing barrier. "Our community experiences a 23% unemployment rate, which is more than two times the state average." Much more specific and clear about the actual situation that you're describing. An example of a current community condition is: fresh produce in our community costs five times the state average. And again, this is tied back to that Pine Creek tribe food sovereignty project. You can also see on current community condition on page 32 of the manual. Your current community condition should have baseline information about the existing condition. And again, don't use "need for" or "lack of" or a solution. Describe the source of your information. So, it came from surveys or studies or census data. Describe how the data links to your community condition. And your data should not be older than five years. And local data is always much better than national data. You may need to identify your target population here in your current community condition. Use geographic and demographic information for the description, and social and economic or other factors too. Here's a baseline description of the current community condition for the Pine Creek tribe. Their department conducted a survey in 2018 and the results showed that their community members would like to purchase more fresh produce, but cannot due to the high cost. They cited comparison studies reported in a 2019 statewide farming report that their community pays five times the cost for fresh fruits and produce. And the report mentioned two main reasons for the increasing costs: outdated farming techniques used by local farmers resulting in low production, and high rates of spoilage due to warehousing and shipping from outside the community. For language projects for preservation and maintenance and Esther Martinez, your current community condition needs to discuss the current status of the native language and that it is fully described, including the current number of fluent and emerging speakers, with details to indicate fluency levels, current language learning resources available for use within your community, a description of the existing language program, and participation in language preservation by current and emerging language speakers. On page 34 of the Pre-App manual, there's more information about writing your current community condition statement. There's an activity there, and I urge you to go through it. You can restate the longterm community goal. It's always good to keep that in front of you so that you're making sure that you're tying all these pieces together. And then write your current community condition statement. Remember to avoid the "lack of" or "need for" statements, and provide the status of the current community condition using baseline data. And what sources did you use? The Alaska Region Training and Technical Assistance Center is here to answer your questions. We offer 16 hours of free application review for any application that is at least 75% complete. We provide tips and resources to help you complete your application. And you can go to www.anaalaska.org, click on Technical Assistance, and then Request TA and someone will get back to you quickly. You can also call us at 800-948-3158.

Up next

Video 5: Project Goals

Project Goals

Training episodes

Video 1: Brief Introduction to ANA and New Funding Opportunities
Video 1: Brief Introduction to ANA and New Funding Opportunities
Video 2: How to Build your ANA Application
Video 2: How to Build your ANA Application
Video 3: Long-Term Community Goal
Video 3: Long-Term Community Goal
Video 4: Current Community Condition
Video 4: Current Community Condition
Video 5: Project Goals
Video 5: Project Goals
Video 6: TTIP Objectives
Video 6: TTIP Objectives
Video 7: Outcomes, Indicators, and Outputs
Video 7: Outcomes, Indicators, and Outputs
Video 8: Outcome Tracker & Outcome Tracking Strategy
Video 8: Outcome Tracker & Outcome Tracking Strategy
Video 9: Objective Work Plan
Video 9: Objective Work Plan
Video 10: Budget
Video 10: Budget
Video 11: Community-Based Strategy
Video 11: Community-Based Strategy
Video 12: Readiness and Implementation Strategy
Video 12: Readiness and Implementation Strategy
Video 13: Contingency Plans
Video 13: Contingency Plans
Video 14: Sustainability Plans
Video 14: Sustainability Plans
Video 15: Organizational Capacity
Video 15: Organizational Capacity
Video 16: Submitting the Application to ANA
Video 16: Submitting the Application to ANA