Wilmington Community Asset and Resource Mapping: An Analysis of the Resources Available to Resident of the City of Wilmington, Delaware

Abstract

The Wilmington Education Improvement Commission (Commission) aims to provide recommendations to improve the lives of families and children in Delaware. The Meeting the Needs of Students in Poverty Committee was created by the Commission and tasked with developing a comprehensive plan for the integration of services for low income families and their children and schools with high concentrations of poverty (Wilmington Education Improvement Commission, 2016). A key step in this effort is to evaluate current Wilmington community assets and resources and the extent to which they serve the needs of low income families. This research brief summarizes the first stage of a resource mapping project that focuses on determining what public and nonprofit community resource institutions are in Wilmington, what types of services they provide, who they serve, where they are located, and how their location and operation corresponds to the needs of the city’s children and low income families. The University of Delaware’s Institute for Public Administration conducted research, provided staff support, and created this brief on behalf of the Commission and the committee. The full report on the first stage of this research will be posted to the Commission’s website: www.solutionsfordelawareschools.com