As a first step in designing your own human services program, it is important to identify your target population, the problem you are addressing with your program, and establish that there is a need for the proposed program in the community. This is important in order to determine feasibility and to gain support from stakeholders, decision-makers, funders, and the community. It is also information critical to the planning process, including identifying interventions which are likely to be effective in addressing the problem for the target population.
For this assignment, you are required to submit a 4-5 page paper describing the following:
Identify an issue in the field of human services and describe the problem in some detail (e.g., substance use, mental health issues, child abuse/neglect, homelessness, poverty).
How is this problem currently being addressed in the field? Explain whether you believe this is sufficient.
Discuss the significance and relevance of how your proposed human services program may aim to address this problem. Does your program fill a gap in existing services for the target population?
Discuss the impact of your proposed human services program on the targeted population and the local community.
Make sure to cite a minimum of 4 peer-reviewed articles to support the existence of the problem and how it is currently being addressed in the field.