Statewide Community Needs Assessment of LGBTQIA+ Marylanders

Background

FreeState Justice is conducting its third statewide needs assessment to inform the next five years of our organization’s direct client services work and policy advocacy priorities for LGBTQIA+ persons living in Maryland.

We will administer surveys and conduct focus groups, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the needs of LGBTQ+ Marylanders.

Aims 

In our 2016 needs assessment, we had participation from respondents in Baltimore City and 20 out of 23 counties in Maryland. One-quarter of respondents identified as people of color.

In our upcoming 2022 needs assessment, we are striving to reach an even more diverse group of respondents. We aim to do this through tailored communications strategies and by creating and disseminating the measuring instruments in an accessible and inclusive manner.

Our Plan

1. STEP ONE: Gather information from LGBTQIA+ Marylanders (July 2022-September 2022)
   The survey instrument will launch in late-June 2022, and it will remain live for two to three months. In July and August 2022, we will conduct focus groups with LGBTQIA+ Marylanders to gather in-depth qualitative information about the existing needs of and challenges faced by this community.
2. STEP TWO:  Review, clean and analyze the collected data (July 2022- December 2022)
   Data will be cleaned and analyzed as soon as we receive it. We will use descriptive statistics to summarize survey data and primary themes will be identified. Survey data will then be supplemented by qualitative focus group data in order to create a narrative.
3. STEP THREE: Compile results into a report and broadly disseminate findings (Early 2023)
   We will organize findings in a way that is digestible for the general public. This report will amplify the voices and experiences of LGBTQIA+- Marylanders, and this information will be compiled into a public data- set to help inform the development of future programs.

Stay tuned for our survey launch!