Over the past two decades, the terms "accountability" and "program evaluation" have become the focus within the human services arena. Due to budgetary constraints and decrease in availability of public funding, the competition for scarce resources has increased. This increased competition has subjected human services agencies to an intense examination where requests for resources are scrutinized carefully. The first step to conducting a program evaluation is to conduct a needs assessment to determine and justify the reason for carrying out the evaluation of a particular program. A need can be defined as the gap between what is and what should be and can be experienced by an individual, a group, or an entire community. Tasks: Using at least 3–5 scholarly resources from the professional literature, research human service needs assessment. The literature may include the University online library resources, relevant textbooks, peer-reviewed journal articles, and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (.edu, .org, or .gov). Create a 7- to 9-page report in a Microsoft Word document, including the following: Identify a program at a social agency or other human services program to which you have access and provide a description of the organizational context including the mission and objectives of the program and why an evaluation is being considered. Conduct a needs assessment using concepts presented previously to confirm and explain the scope of the problem, the perceived versus actual gap in service, the affected population, whether the need is changing, and in what manner the need may be changing. Identify possible resources to meet the perceived needs. Discuss what existing resources can be used, what additional information would be needed, and what sources for obtaining data you would use. Identify the stakeholders who need to be included in the assessment and subsequent evaluation. Analyze the interpersonal, political, and ethical considerations of interacting with decision makers and stakeholders who may have conflicting priorities and determine strategies for reconciling those priorities.

Prompt 1; Behavioral Health Equity

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is tasked with leading public health efforts, which are aimed at the betterment of the nation’s behavioral health (SAMHSA, 2016). In general, the agency seeks to reduce the effects of substance misuse and mental illnesses. To achieve this, the agency facilitates health and rehabilitative service delivery with the objective of stemming high disability mortality and cases due to substance abuse (Dunmond, 2015). The major venture associated with attaining this goal involves setting up the Behavioral Health Equity Program.

The mission of the behavioral health equity program is to guarantee the enjoyment of one’s right to receive quality health care regardless of their race, ethnic background or gender. Notably, the program is set up to fight the disparities evident in the provision of care services. According to SAMHSA (2016), these disparities are entrenched in society due to the racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographical location and social conditions differences in the society. These disparities hinder the efforts to offer services for the prevention and treatment of mental health and drug abuse conditions, disorders and complications (Dunmond, 2015). In short, behavioral health equity seeks to promote universality in the management of mental illnesses.