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Trendline presents Southborough community needs assessment; finds high cost of living, access gaps in behavioral health and youth alcohol use
Summary
Trendline Consultants told the Select Board that Southborough residents ranked high cost of living and gaps in service navigation as top concerns; report authors recommended a human-services task force, a centralized service inventory and improved translation services, and offered an interactive dashboard and final report for the town.
Trendline Consultants presented a community needs assessment to the Town of Southborough Select Board, summarizing a yearlong project that combined quantitative data, a community survey and focus groups to identify priorities for human services.
Kendall of Trendline said the assessment used US Census and American Community Survey data, regional adolescent-health surveys, 11 key-informant interviews, eight focus groups and a 345-person community survey. "49% of people that responded to the survey actually indicated that a top challenge for overall health and well-being was a high cost of living," Kendall reported, citing survey results that framed many of the study's recommendations.
The report flagged three linked concerns: economic pressure and aging in place, behavioral-health access and youth substance use. On youth alcohol use, the consultants said Algonquin High School rates were slightly above regional averages ("24 percent of high schoolers report using alcohol in the past 30 days," Kendall said). The consultants also stressed stigma as a barrier to care: "66 percent of people indicated that stigma was a major barrier to substance use care," Kendall said, and recommended targeted stigma-reduction strategies and early prevention.
On mental-health access the consultants reported that "54 percent of residents indicated they would know how to access mental health care" and that roughly one-third of residents who needed care in the past year were not able to obtain it. The report emphasized patient navigation and clearer referral pathways, noting local examples of residents who relied heavily on Youth & Family Services to connect to longer-term supports.
Presenters described two deliverables: an interactive online dashboard based on the community survey and a final written report. Sarah Castle of Youth & Family Services told the board both will be available virtually soon and asked for guidance on a public landing page. The consulting team recommended short-term "low-hanging-fruit" actions (shared translation services, a single financial-assistance application and service-inventory work) alongside longer-term infrastructure projects (sidewalks, transit stops and formalized cross-department referral systems).
Board members asked for clarifications about local health infrastructure, translation services and next steps. Several members expressed support for a resource inventory and a steering committee to keep recommendations moving; one member urged a single vendor for translation/interpretation to cut duplicative contracts. The consultants and Youth & Family Services staff agreed to provide additional county comparison figures and to share the dashboard and final report when available.
The Select Board did not vote on specific funding as part of this presentation; the consultants left the board with recommended next steps and materials for further consideration.
