COUDERSPORT – Needs of the communities and residents of Potter
County were assessed in considerable detail last year. The
information gathered in that process has been analyzed at length,
and a number of conclusions have been drawn.

Now what?

What can be done to meet the needs thus delineated will be
explored further, as will the report of the Needs Assessment
itself, and potential uses of the information, at a meeting set for
1 p.m. Tuesday in the Charles Cole Memorial Hospital Wellness
Center conference room.

Diane McLaughlin, associate professor of rural sociology and
demography at Penn State, will be the main presenter. She will show
a PowerPoint presentation. Discussion will follow.

The study utilized a questionnaire circulated to 800 Potter
County households, selected at random, last spring and summer. The
response rate was slightly more than 50 percent, or 413 surveys
returned.

Sponsoring the effort were the Potter County Commissioners and
Potter County Human Services. They were assisted by the Community
and Economic Development Graduate Program, the College of
Agricultural Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University.

The meaty survey form contained sections on Services and
Economic Development; Planning; Family, Teen Development and
Neighborhood; Education; Emergency and Volunteering; and Background
(demographic information about the responding household).

Respondents were asked to assess various services,
opportunities, benefits and facilities presently available in the
county and in their communities, and rank their concerns and
perceived needs for additional services and opportunities.

Responses came from all over the county, with a somewhat
disproportionately large number from the Coudersport area. Older
residents provided more than their share, according to population
numbers.

The data are expected to be useful in planning by local
government and by public and private service agencies. The report
will also prove useful in seeking various kinds of grants, sponsors
believe.

The meeting Tuesday is open to the public. Copies of the final
report of the Needs Assessment can be reviewed at public libraries
in the county and at Perry’s Country Store in Austin.

The report also can be requested by sending an e-mail to Lucinda
Weakland or Leon Kaple.