Advanced Practice: Program Assessment of Community Services Program

This report provides a comprehensive program assessment of the "Community Services Program" within the "Ministry of Community and Social Services" in Toronto, Canada. It begins with an introduction to the program, its objectives, and the services offered to support individuals facing hardships, particularly within the indigenous community. The report identifies relevant data, explores the agency's involvement, and presents the challenges faced, such as work overload and inadequate training. A multi-dimensional framework is developed to analyze the program's operations. The assessment highlights the program's strengths, including its well-planned nature and focus on community development. It also proposes specific interventions to address weaknesses, such as increasing worker numbers and providing enhanced training. A plan of action outlines short-term goals, including increased worker recruitment and enhanced training programs, to improve the effectiveness of the community development services. The report concludes with a summary of findings and recommendations for program improvement.

Running head: PROGRAM ASSESSMENT
Program Assessment
Name of the University:
Name of the Student:
Authors Note:

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................2
2. Data identification...........................................................................................................2
3. Involvement of agency....................................................................................................3
4. Presentation of problem...................................................................................................4
5. Multi-dimensional framework.........................................................................................4
6. Strengths of the program.................................................................................................6
7. Interventions....................................................................................................................6
8. Plan of action...................................................................................................................7
9. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................8

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1. Introduction
“Ministry of Community and Social Services” is a Canadian Province that is responsible
for social services or programs like Welfare, disability support program and community service
programs to support the social problems such as homelessness, domestic violence, adoption and
assisted housing for people. The objective of the paper is to analyze a program of a selected
social service agency in Toronto within Canada and for such reasons “Ministry of Community
and Social Services” is selected. Moreover, the paper will also analyze the strengths and
challenges by the agency in implementing the program successfully for native community of
Toronto, Canada.
2. Data identification
“Community Services Program” of “Ministry of Community and Social Services”
facilitates in supporting individuals to recover from hardships along with regaining control of
their lives. The services offered by the agency in this program are gathered to be funded by
ministry and delivered by the community social services organizations, First Nations and
Municipalities. This program also covers services such as successfully following “Indigenous
Healing and Wellness Strategy” for indigenous individuals and families and certain indigenous
organizations. This program supports indigenous individuals and families living on-reserve and
in rural and urban communities through offering a series of contemporary health care services
with traditional approaches for healing and wellness. The community wellness workers are
responsible for offering education and prevention programs in schools and communities of rural
areas, referring families and individuals to the treatment and counseling programs along with
offering health care facilities from individuals and families. This program is also focused on

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offering necessary resources to support the persons with disabilities along with working on
welfare and poverty issues so that social causes of food insecurity and hunger can be dealt with.
Moreover, the responsible people associated with the programs also offers necessary healthcare
services under this program such as health cards, primary health care, hospital and continuing
care along with funding and coverage for pharmaceuticals.
3. Involvement of agency
In the mid 1990s, “Ministry of Community and Social Services” was developed with a
policy framework with necessary principles, values and outcomes in betterment of the
community within Toronto, Canada. With involvement of Canadian health care system
increasing costs for hospital and medical services offered to the native people and progressive
health care professionals through arguing that health care is a social good. This viewpoint was
challenged when it was highlighted in Toronto that individuals must accept responsibility for
their own along with their facility’s health care through private and development plans by
agencies those have to be responsible for offering necessary healthcare benefits to deprived
people with government support. Moreover, in the year 2008-2009, the Toronto government shut
down the last three residential institutions for individuals with a developmental disability. In
such scenario, more than 1000 people moved to new community based homes with attaining help
of families, province and agencies. After closure of such institutions, the native community of
Toronto Canada was observed to deal with issues regarding basic health and safety services,
particularly the people those are not financially sound to support their own healthcare issues.
Focused on such issue the “Ministry of Community and Social Services” developed “Community
Services Program” in order to support the basic healthcare services offered to the deprived
people of the community.

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4. Presentation of problem
In implementation of “Community Services Program” of “Ministry of Community and
Social Services” it has been gathered that the agency is dealing with certain challenges and
problems associated with this development program. In explaining the problem faced within this
program, a survey was conducted with a colleague working within the “Community Services
Program” of “Ministry of Community and Social Services”. From the survey conducted it has
been gathered that the colleague faced the issue is work overload. The colleague expressed a
viewpoint that due to less number of healthcare workers are available in addressing a wide range
of healthcare services offered by this program, the workers are facing the issues of accepting
excess responsibilities. The colleague that was surveyed stated that he is taking on additional
responsibilities that are above his comfort level. Moreover, he is not able to divide significant
workload that is bringing exhaustion and issue of decreased job satisfaction in him. Moreover,
the colleague also revealed another changing faced by him through the survey that he does not
get to spend enough time with the patients that is affecting the efficiency of the program. Due to
such concern, the college who was surveyed identified that umber of healthcare providers per
patient is getting worse and the deprived community is not getting adequate support from the
development program. In addition, the college also highlighted that in inadequate in-house skills
training affected on-reserve and in rural and urban communities in offering a series of
contemporary health care services with traditional approaches for healing and wellness.
5. Multi-dimensional framework
A multi-dimensional framework is prepared for analyzing the dimensions those impact
the manner in which Community Services Program” of “Ministry of Community and Social
Services” is able to operate in Canada. This framework is indicated below:

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Levels of Engagement Consultation Involvement Partnership and
Shared Leadership
Direct care through
government funding
Targeted community
receives information
regarding development
services offered to them
Issue of the active
community is
recognized based on
which the funding will
be invested in providing
them services
Lack of fund is
observed in offering
basic health and safety
services
Agency design and
governance
The healthcare workers
are facing issue of time
management for
focusing on each
patient’s issue
Community healthcare
program advisors are
inadequately trained to
manage additional job
responsibilities
Quality of community
development services
are hampered
Policy making in
support of community
development program
Inefficient training
programs for heath
workers that can make
services better
Less number of worker
available in performing
shared job
responsibilities in
community
development
Improper allocation of
resources to health
programs
Factors Impacting Community Development Program
 Healthcare workers
 Funding to support the program
 Community

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6. Strengths of the program
Despite facing certain challenges in implementation of “Community Services Program”
by “Ministry of Community and Social Services”, the program has certain strengths. The
community development program was focused on offering education and prevention programs in
schools and communities of rural areas, referring families and individuals to the treatment and
counseling programs along with offering health care facilities for individuals and families. The
strengths or benefits of this program are that it is well-planned, initiated and supported by the
community members and fulfills all social, economic and community development
responsibilities. After implementation of the “Community Services Program”, certain befits have
been provided to the native community in offering emergency and basic health care services to
the low-income or deprived people including children, low-income parents and disabled
individuals in the native community of Toronto, Canada. Moreover, the program also improved
lives of derived people in low-income group places of Toronto through supporting them with
basic healthcare services. These include healthcare and medical provisions, food assistance,
housing subsidies, energy and utility subsidies, education and childcare assistance along with
offering subsidies and assistance for certain other basics services. The “Community
Development Program” supported the community successfully through attaining high degree of
public involvement for provision of health care and free medical treatment to the poor patients.
7. Interventions
The “Ministry of Community and Social Services” agency can implement certain
initiatives for dealing with the weaknesses those are identified in the “Community Development

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Program”. The program must focus on developing the skills among the community health
workers involved in this program through providing them necessary training in building
relationships, working as a team and understanding the needs assessments for offering right
services to the right individual in an initiative of improving health of native community people in
Toronto, Canada. Moreover, the number of workers within the program must be increased so that
services offered within this program can be equally segmented among specific group of workers.
In accomplishing this initiative, the issue of poor healthcare service offering to deprived people
can be addressed along with decreasing the job responsibilities burden on single healthcare social
worker. Moreover, the agency must also consider offering training to the workers within this
program regarding community perspectives and cultural norms along with educating them on
navigating to operate the social service systems effectively in the targeted communities of
Toronto, Canada. In addition, the agency must also consider dealing with the issue of in-house
skills training affected on-reserve and in rural and urban communities in offering a series of
contemporary health care services. This can be ensured through offering workers with necessary
training on empowering workers on participating in family, individual, community and systems
improvement along with acting as advocate for individuals.
8. Plan of action
The short term goals those are necessary to be developed by “Ministry of Community and
Social Services” in order to address the challenges faced by social welfare agency n offering
“Community development program” are explained below:
 To attain an increase in the recruitment of workers within the “Community
development program”- The agency must reach out to cultivated contacts at local

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workforce development from the community colleges and community service
organizations. Attaining such contacts from these sites can facilitate in enhancing through
understanding of the job responsibilities in the program. Through attaining this goal the
agency can ensure that it is recruiting highly skilled workers within this “Community
Development Program” those can understand the job role efficiently and offer
exceptional community services.
 To increase training programs for the workers working in association with the
program- In attaining this goal can be attaining through training workers in developing
team work and in accomplishing shared responsibilities through allocating each service to
each group of individuals. Attaining such goal can enhance the community development
services offered through the program to targeted group of deprived people in Toronto,
Canada. Moreover, in attaining such goal, the agency will consider implementing certain
employee engagement and motivation programs. Moreover, time management skills must
also be provided by the agency in managing time effectively for addressing the issue of
each individual and for supporting the deprived people. The training content will be in a
way that it involves and engages setting norms that the participants must follow in
benefiting people of the targeted community.
9. Conclusion
The objective of the paper was to analyze a program of a selected social service agency in
Toronto within Canada and for such reasons “Ministry of Community and Social Services” is
selected. It was gathered from the paper that the community wellness workers are responsible
for offering education and prevention programs in schools and communities of rural areas,
referring families and individuals to the treatment and counseling programs along with offering

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health care facilities for individuals and families. Moreover, the number of workers within the
program must be increased so that services offered within this program can be equally segmented
among specific group of workers in enhancing effectiveness of the community development
program.

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