National Alliance for Children's Grief Needs Assessment Training

Omni contracted with the National Alliance for Children’s Grief to develop a three-part Community Needs Assessment Training Series for organizations supporting grieving children. The National Alliance works to raise awareness about the unique needs of children and teens who have experienced the death of someone close, and this project extended their mission by offering guidance to service providers on how to better understand and respond to those needs. The training series, paired with supporting materials and follow-up Q&A sessions, gave participants the foundational tools to begin or improve their own needs assessment efforts.

Each of the three 90-minute webinar sessions focused on a different stage of the assessment process. The topics included:

• Training #1: Community Assessment Overview
• Training #2: Data Sources & Data Collection for Community Assessment
• Training #3: Using Data to Refine Program Strategies and Secure Funding

These sessions combined practical instruction with interactive components, such as discussions, real-world examples, and opportunities for hands-on application. Two days after each webinar, participants joined a one-hour Q&A session to dive deeper into the content, ask questions, and practice using shared tools and templates. These follow-ups gave participants space to reinforce their understanding and explore how to tailor the guidance to their local context.

Evaluation results were overwhelmingly positive—nearly 100% of participants reported finding the sessions helpful. The training series gave organizations a clearer path for assessing gaps in children’s grief services and using that information to plan stronger, more strategic programs. By focusing on both concepts and application, the series helped equip participants with the confidence and skills to move from data collection to decision-making, ultimately improving their ability to support grieving children more effectively.