LEO's Community Action Plan Lynn Economic Opportunity, Inc. (LEO) is a private non-profit human service agency that has provided Head Start and other social services to the low income community of greater Lynn for over 30 years. Every three years, LEO undertakes a comprehensive Community Needs Assessment to learn how the community feels about the problems being faced and the programs being offered to address these problems. Each year, as part of a self assessment, we update this information and adjust our goals as needed. We have found that Lynn is the 9th largest and fastest growing city in Massachusetts with a population of 89,056. As measured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 53% of the population is low-income. The minority population has risen from 20% in 1990 to 32%. Lynn has the fourth highest number of homeless persons in the Commonwealth. The economic boom of the late nineties was only marginally visible in Lynn. Lynn still falls behind its neighboring towns, the Boston PMSA, and the state in a number of critical areas such as family income, unemployment, poverty, drop-out rates, limited housing opportunities, limited services for children and youth, and many other socio-economic measures. We also survey of our clients, board, staff, and other community stakeholders. Two types of survey questions are asked. Respondents are asked to rank big problems facing the community. They are also asked to rank programs that need to be improved and or expanded. In addition, our Board Program Planning and Evaluation Committee has arranged for community focus groups to be held. Our Community Action Plan annual work plans and applications for funds are developed around the priority areas identified through these planning processes. LEO works constantly to strengthen linkages with other stakeholders in the priority issue areas identified. These priority service areas are: - Lack of Housing - Drugs & Alcohol - Expensive Health Care - Expensive Energy - Jobs - Crime - Child Care Services The most dramatic change from earlier needs assessments are the increase in numbers of respondents who feel the Lack of Adequate Subsidized Housing and Lack of Access to Affordable Health Care have become the biggest problems in the community. Drug & Alcohol Abuse Prevention and the High Cost of Energy remain important concerns. Child Care remains a concern of professionals, but seems to be of less concern to clients than in the past. We hope this is because of LEOs expansion of our Head Start and other child care services and facilities in the last few years. These findings are used in planning LEOs activities for each coming year. For current services provided please see the LEO INC page. For help in English call (781) 581-7220. Para Ayuda en Espanol llama a (781) 581-7220.