b'Whats a community readinessassessment?A community readiness assessment inventories general knowledge about a topic, generates discussion, and helps community members toMove the Indicatorsprioritize concerns and to identify resources and action steps to make change. For example, if you know that there is some interest in Conduct a community readiness assessment, that will assist with adding bike paths in a neighborhood, a prioritizing support to existing programs and implementing newcommunity readiness assessment will initiativesdetermine if people in the neighborhood are aware of the benefits of a bike path, if they Conduct a county-wide survey to gather data in each of the five would be willing to support funding for it, target areasand if they prefer a bike path over other road improvements. The assessment would rate Continue to monitor key indicators over time, follow trends, and reportthe neighborhood on a readiness scale and progress relative to the targetsprovide information about where to start. The results of the assessment might indicate that people need more information about the benefits of bike paths, or that they may be ready to get going with a project, or that they are interested in something other than a bike path. Readiness assessment helps a community target which efforts to focus on and when.4 8Engaging Our Community In Health88222_CMC2.indd 50 2/1/10 12:27 PM'