Every three years, HARC conducts the Coachella Valley Community Health Survey, a population health survey of the Coachella Valley. This survey covers adults and children, is conducted in English and Spanish, and results are provided back to the community at no cost.

The survey provides information on mental health, food insecurity, health behaviors, and much more. HARC’s data is used by nonprofits, hospitals, educational institutions, and governmental agencies, among others. These organizations use the data to prioritize health needs, develop programs to address those needs, and apply for funding to implement said programs. HARC is now conducting the sixth iteration of the survey, assessing community needs for the year 2022.

Funding from ACF will be used to collect data on the health of children for the Coachella Valley Community Health Survey. We will be sampling from households randomly across the Coachella Valley. Households indicating that they have children living with them should be sent a follow-up survey so we can learn about the specific needs of children in our Valley. This data will be collected, entered, and reported on once more for free for the whole community. We are committed to ensuring those agencies who serve our local children have all the tools necessary to create an equitable community for our most vulnerable population.

Jenna LeComte-Hinely

Jlecomte-hinely@HARCdata.org

Health Assessment Resource Center (HARC) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit research and evaluation firm that provides objective, reliable, and pertinent data to transform quality of life for all communities. Every three years for more than a decade, HARC has conducted the massive population-based research study known as the Coachella Valley Community Health Survey. The Community Health Survey asks residents questions on a plethora of critical topics, such as healthcare access, utilization, health behaviors, socioeconomic needs, mental health, and much more.

While the Coachella Valley Community Health Survey contains a number of compelling topics, we also collect demographic information so that each of these topics can be analyzed as a function of demographics. Thus, HARC is going to produce an in-depth analysis and report on the health of children in the Coachella Valley, split by age groups of younger children (ages 0-5), children (ages 6-11), and adolescents (ages 12-17).

By examining three separate age groups, this would enable the Foundation and local organizations to closely assess the unique characteristics and needs within each of these age groups such as demographics, household characteristics, healthcare access/utilization, disabilities, major diseases, mental health, sleep, weight/fitness/nutrition, adverse childhood experiences, and learning/socialization (conversations with parents regarding drugs, alcohol, social media, etc.). In addition to these age breakdowns, HARC plans to highlight other demographic differences such as race/ethnicity whenever possible.

The findings of this report will be made available to all who serve our children in the community and will help all to deeply understand our local children and strategically address their most critical needs.