Document Type
Research Report
Publication Date
2025
Keywords
human services, needs assessment, community services
Disciplines
Gerontology
Abstract
The Town of Natick has committed to engaging the community to guide efforts to update and modernize municipal policies, procedures, and programs such that they appropriately reflect the needs and interests of the community.
Between 2021 and 2022, the Community Services Department underwent some organizational restructuring, which included staffing changes and the inclusion of Recreation & Parks and the Sassamon Trace Golf Course as divisions within the department, which already included the Council on Aging & Human Services, Veterans Services, and the Natick Community Organic Farm4. The Community Services Department is “charged with responding to the needs, interests and quality of life issues of all who call Natick home. We seek to improve the quality of life for all of our residents by designing and offering a wide range of educational, recreational, cultural and health and fitness related opportunities for every resident of any age.”5 Between a continued commitment to community engaged planning and the recent organizational changes of the department, The Town of Natick set out to enhance its human services in a way that better meets the needs of the Natick community.
In pursuit of these enhancements, the Town of Natick requested a study of the needs and interests of Natick’s population as it relates to the functions of community services in the community whether provided by the Town, School Department, and/or a private or other public entity. This study intended to identify gaps in services, to best identify where finite resources should be prioritized. In cooperation with the Town of Natick, researchers at the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging, the Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management at UMass Boston conducted a study focusing on the needs and interests of Natick’s population, as they shape the planning and development of a community services department that supports Natick as a friendly, accessible, and inclusive place for all residents to grow up and grow old. This report describes the research process, presents key findings of the study, and concludes with a set of recommendations for the Town of Natick, and its community of partners. This needs assessment took place between June 2023 and June 2025.
Community Engaged/Serving
Part of the UMass Boston Community-Engaged Teaching, Research, and Service Series. //scholarworks.umb.edu/engage
Recommended Citation
Coyle, Caitlin E.; Krebs, Mary; Clark, Morgan; and Frye, Matt, "A Study of Human Services in the Town of Natick" (2025). Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging Publications. 115.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/demographyofaging/115
Comments
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