Community Needs Assessment

2025 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) 

What is the CHNA?: The CHNA is a collaborative, systematic process of collecting and analyzing data to learn about the health needs of a community and to implement plans for addressing those needs.  In North Carolina, this process is conducted every three to four years and is a requirement for local health department accreditation.  It involves engaging community members and stakeholders to identify and prioritize health issues, leading to the development of Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIPs) that outline strategies to address the identified priorities.  For more detailed information, you can refer to the NC Community Health Assessment Guidebook. 

Where We Are in the Process: Our Community Planning Council (a 54-member cross-sector group) has been actively leading the 2025 CHNA process since December 2025.  Each month, the Council has explored a different topic area, and, for every topic, members have examined secondary data from local, state, and national sources to understand trends, disparities, and emerging issues in Cabarrus County. This process has included the launch of a community survey, as well as focus groups and key informant interviews to ensure community voice is part of the picture.  We are now in the data review and prioritization phase of the process. In June, Planning Council members will complete their review of findings and participate in priority voting to identify the most pressing issues to address in the next phase of work. 

What’s Next: Following priority setting in June, we’ll begin drafting the full CHNA report for release in summer 2025. From there, we’ll: 

  • Disseminate findings throughout the community 
  • Submit to the state and evaluate our process  
  • Begin forming Action Planning Groups focused on the top health issues identified through the CHNA process. These groups will dig deeper into root causes, map existing resources, and begin identifying strategies for collective impact 

2025 CHNA Data

2025 CNA Secondary Data (excel)

2020 CHNA Report 

2020 Final Report (PDF) 

2020 Community Health Needs Assessment Appendices

Tools and Resources 

Former Healthy Cabarrus Executive Director, Marcella Beam, sits down with County Commissioner Diane Honeycutt, to discuss the 2020 Community Health Needs Assessment Process and identified community needs. 

Community Health Needs Assessment Reports

  1. 2020 Final Report (PDF)
  2. 2020 Community Health Needs Assessment Appendices (PDF)
  3. 2016 Final Report (PDF)
  4. 2012 Final Report (PDF)
  5. 2008 Final Report (PDF)
  6. 2004 Final Report (PDF)

2020 Community Needs Assessment Data Presentations

  1. September - Community Needs Assessment and Planning Council Overview (PDF)
  2. October - Cabarrus County Community Profile and Crime (PDF)
  3. November - Education and Employment (PDF)
  4. December - Maternal, Infant and Sexual Health (PDF)
  5. January - Clinical and Dental Care, Wellness (PDF)
  6. February - Substance Use, Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (PDF)
  7. April - Built Environment - Transportation, Housing and Physical Environment (PDF)
  8. June - Priority Voting Retreat and Primary Data Findings (PDF)

Cabarrus County Commissioner, Diane Honeycutt, interviews Marcella Beam about the community needs assessment process.