The first page of the final paper for this assignment MUST be the feedback given on the rough draft, including the letter grade assigned. You can copy and paste this information. Failure to have submitted a rough draft, or failure to provide the feedback on the first page of this submission WILL result in a “0” being assigned for this assignment with no opportunities fo resubmission.

Community Analysis:  Each student will select a community for analysis.  The analysis should follow the outline below.  The purpose of this assignment is to provide the student with a basic understanding of the community structure and to critically analyze and evaluate a specific community.  A typed, double-spaced paper is to be written by each student summarizing the information gathered from reputable printed sources in the analysis. (Remember, all work in this course is completed in Times New Roman 12-point font, double line spacing, and one-inch top, bottom, and side margins.)  It should be formatted in APA style including citations and a reference list.  You should use at least four reputable sources (excluding personal conversation). Personal conversations may be used but they cannot be counted as one of your four references. Reference APA to learn how to properly include direct communications as in-text citations and also on the Reference page.

1.  Those sources should include the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, American Fact Finder (factfinder.census.gov), and the U.S. census data exploration portal ().  Complete your work in narrative form (complete sentences in paragraphs) and no title, headings, or subheadings.  Do not bullet or indent any information. Do not use first-person.  Do not use etc., kid, or kids. You may include graphs in an addendum following your reference list but this information is not included in the minimum page limit.  Your completed assignment will be a minimum of six (6) pages of body  excluding the reference list and any added pages (appendices). The following serves as an outline for your community analysis.  While you do not have to evaluate a traditional community (i.e., city, town, etc.), I would recommend that you choose a community of at least 200 people in order to be able to provide the following information.

Remember, this is an analysis and not just a description of a community. This is research. It is not a conversation where youre telling me stories about your community. In-text citations is how your writing goes from telling me stories to writing about the research that youve conducted, therefore is required throughout the body of your work. You do not have to follow the outline in order, but you do need to include all of the information or indicate the reason it is not relevant to the assignment. You are not limited to the information required below.  If you are using information derived from a conversation, include in your narrative the name of the person and their title. Refer to APA Manual to properly cite. The information you need to provide includes identifying and describing the community in terms of:

Name

Parish/county

Population

Racial and ethnic composition

Geographic characteristics

Religious affiliations

History- Brief review of the history of the community and summarize important developments (from publications, local library, historians)

Economics-What are the major economic bases of the community? Major industries? Who works and what do they do?  What is the tax rate there city and parish?  What shopping opportunities are there? Do they adequately meet the general needs of the citizens?

Employment-Analyze the employment/unemployment situation. Is the economy robust or depressed?  What is the unemployment rate there?

Politics-Describe the political system.  Who are the major political figures in the community? What is their background (Do not take up space in your paper by discussing things such as their high school accolades, who they married or number of children, for example. Their background should consist of what/how they serve, length of service & any notable accomplishments while in office) Describe any political divisions that may exist within the community. Does the community appear mainly cooperative or are their antagonisms? Explain

Community Resources-Analyze the community with regard to community resources and the quality of services they provide including Educational number and designation of schools, include graduation rates and analysis; Health and medical; Recreation and leisure; Social welfare (what are poverty rates and how do they compare? Is there public housing?  What is the average income? Always include all government agencies in the community – parish, state, and federal.  What services are offered for veterans and older populations?)

Religion-What religious/faith-based opportunities exist?  How do these groups serve the community?

Community development-Are there significant problems in the community? What resources exist for taking care of these problems?

Crime-Include information/analysis on crime statistics

Quality of life-Assess the quality of life in this community with a general summary.  What assets, resources, problems and opportunities for improvement exist?

Remember, do not use a numbered or bulleted format; your assignment is written in narrative form. Do NOT repeat the questions above. The assignment is to be submitted via Turnitin on MyNSU in the MS Word format with a similarity score of 10% or lower.