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Tri- Valley Human Services Needs Assessment In 2002, the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton collaborated to conduct a Human Services Needs Assessment for the Tri Valley area. In the prior ten years, the Tri- Valley had witnessed dramatic population growth that sorely taxed local facilities and infrastructure, resulting in an ever increasing demand for human services from residents in the cities of Dublin, Livermore, and Pleasanton. Each city had also seen substantial changes in its residential population, not only in terms of race and ethnicity, but also age distribution, income, and disability. In fact, all three cities were found to be significantly more diverse than they had been ten years prior. Since Dublin, Livermore, and Pleasanton are geographically close to one another and were confronting similar issues related to their human services network, the cities sought guidance to better plan for and allocate their limited resources to improve the quality of life of Tri- Valley residents. In particular, the cities were interested in an assessment of the Tri- Valley's human services network, including the identification of service gaps and shortcomings to the overall network, and recommendations to strengthen the delivery of human services in the future. With the help of a consultant, the cities researched and analyzed the Tri- Valley's rapidly changing population and assessed the efforts of community -based organizations, private institutions, and city agencies to respond to the complex and changing human service needs of the region. The research incorporated both primary and secondary data sources related to the Tri- Valley's human service needs, including Census data on demographic changes as well as in -depth interviews and focus groups with community members, service providers, and other key stakeholders. The research focused on eight human service areas including health care, mental health, substance abuse services, HIV /AIDS services, children and youth services, senior services, disability services, and homeless services. Efforts were focused on collecting feedback from community members and key stakeholders with direct community involvement to determine the Tri- Valley's human service needs. This research led to the identification of specific service gaps and shortcomings to the human services network that need to be addressed by Tri Valley cities. While most of the identified gaps were general in nature, two areas related to the specific service needs of senior citizens: Inadequate access to senior programs for homebound seniors. As the senior population expands in the Tri Valley, many service providers expressed a growing need for outreach activities that are focused on assisting relatively isolated seniors with home -based services such as activities of daily living and case management, as well as transportation and increased opportunities for socialization. Inadequate access to local and regional transportation. As seniors age and eventually give up the use of their cars, they become dependent on relatives or friends and/or the public transit system. The needs assessment found that many community members do not understand the existing paratransit service that is available through the City of Pleasanton. A common problem Strategic Plan FY2010 FY2014 City of Pleasanton Page 42