2024
Orangevale-Fair Oaks
COMMUNITY
NEEDS
ASSESSMENT
www.ovfocf.org
916-238-8868
info@ovfocf.org
At the Orangevale-Fair Oaks Community Foundation (OVFOCF) we partner with those
who give of their time, talent, and treasure to enrich the quality of life and strengthen
our community for this and future generations. In this role, we see our responsibility in
the Orangevale and Fair Oaks community as threefold:
First, we are committed to providing programs that gather and grow our community so that
everyone can FLOURISH! This includes building relationships with business leaders, nonprofits,
donors, and volunteers throughout our community, to ensure we are providing programs that meet
the needs of our community.
Second, we focus on broad, flexible, donor gifts and grants. Our staff and board are dedicated to
understanding the evolving needs of the community to effectively re-direct charitable dollars. Our grant and
donor focus may be proactive or responsive in nature but are certainly more effective if made from a place of
understanding and knowledge.
Third, we take pride in our role as a community leader. There are many ways to play a leadership role
including acting as a convener, effectively guiding resources to the areas of greatest need or opportunity,
and educating the public on issues that are of most concern to them.
With this in mind, the OVFOCF committed to leading a unique assessment of our community through the
2024 Orangevale-Fair Oaks Community Needs Assessment. Our goal is to identify and prioritize the needs
and assets in Orangevale and Fair Oaks, parts of an often-overlooked and underfunded area of
unincorporated Sacramento County. We aim to unite organizations and resources and create solutions that
deliver significant and lasting results.
It is our hope that the information collected through the 2024 Community Needs Assessment will allow our
community’s decision-makers to come together and create data-informed solutions to the needs of our
community, foster collaboration among agencies and sectors, and improve the overall well-being and
quality of life for the residents of Orangevale and Fair Oaks.
Sincerely,
Brad Squires
Founder/Executive Director OVFOCF
Brad Squires
In 2024, the Orangevale-Fair Oaks Community
Foundation (OVFOCF) committed to leading a
unique Community Needs Assessment to
identify and prioritize needs and assets in the
unincorporated territories of Orangevale and Fair
Oaks, unite organizations and resources, and
create solutions that produce significant and
lasting results. In planning the Community
Needs Assessment, OVFOCF deliberately sought
broad and inclusive input from various
stakeholders and residents throughout
Orangevale and Fair Oaks.
OVFOCF plays a vital role as a community
convener and plans to bring community leaders
together in the following months to use the data
collected in the Community Needs Assessment
to address the community’s most pressing
issues.
Ultimately, we want to educate the public about
the issues that are most important to their
neighbors, empowering local agencies and
organizations to make data-informed decisions
as they serve those same families and individuals.
OVFOCF administered a Fair Oaks and
Orangevale wide survey as part of the 6-month
Community Needs Assessment process.
Our survey results revealed the following top-
reported areas of concern:
1. Lack of Affordable Housing and/or Diverse
Housing Options and Resources (51%)
2. Addiction and Illegal Drug Use (41%)
3. Inadequate Transportation System and
Resources (38%)
4. Inadequate Job Opportunities to Make a Living
Wage (32%)
5. Food Insecurity (31%)
Other areas of need highly reported include
inadequate mental health treatment options and
resources, lack of knowledge or understanding of
existing community resources, and inadequate
safe public spaces for youth outside of schools.
Community assets most frequently identified as
“very important” to survey respondents include
the following:
1. Healthy and Strong Families (73%)
2. Access to Quality Healthcare Options (71%)
3. Strong K-12 Education Systems (65%)
4. Community Unity and Trust (62%)
5. Welcoming and Inclusive Community (60%)
6. Adequate Job Opportunities to Make a Living
Wage (59%) / Elderly Care Options (59%) / Access
to Mental Health Treatment & Resources (59%)
OVFOCF still has more to learn as we move
forward from our 2024 Community Needs
Assessment. We hope to continue this work
alongside our partners and are committed to
investing in sustainable solutions to address our
communities’ priorities, improving the quality of
life and building a brighter future where everyone
can FLOURISH in Orangevale and Fair Oaks.
To begin the 6 month-long process of the 2024
Community Needs Assessment, our team
identified other community surveys that had
recently implemented similar assessments and
studied successful parts of their efforts.
The OVFOCF Board of Directors was also
instrumental in identifying the goals for the
assessment. With their guidance, our team
created an implementation plan which included
measurable goals for the assessment process.
Within that implementation plan, OVFOCF
developed a four-phase approach to the
assessment.
In Phase 1, we introduced the community survey
concept to community leaders and key
stakeholders.
In Phase 2, we used what we heard in Phase 1 to
develop and administer a public survey to
identify the top issues and assets in the
Orangevale and Fair Oaks communities.
In Phase 3, we facilitated a Foundation Team
Feedback session. We examined the survey data,
identified opportunities for growth within our
organization, and aligned the findings with our
program experiences. This process helped us
uncover deeper community challenges and
refine our focus on the most pressing needs.
In Phase 4, the final phase, we committed to
transparently sharing our findings with the
community, local leaders, and organizations. We
are publishing this final report to communicate
the assessment results, foster collaboration, and
inspire collective action toward addressing
community needs.
Each phase of the Community
Needs Assessment provided a
different perspective on the
existing resources and the most
pressing concerns of the Fair
Oaks and Orangevale
communities.
Community
Leader Input
Public Survey
Execution
Foundation
Team Feedback
Public Release
of Report
For Phase 1 of the Community Needs Assessment, OVFOCF staff and board met with
members of the community who represented a variety of industries and backgrounds.
Efforts to gain broad and inclusive insight remained a cornerstone of each phase of the
assessment beginning with identifying community leaders who could help give
feedback to the survey questions and then help get the survey into the community.
OVFOCF sought to gather diverse perspectives and ensured that all reasonable efforts
were made to be as inclusive as possible in the data collection process.
The participants in Phase 1 represented education, small business,
agriculture, healthcare, religion, youth and more.
The issues we heard most frequently from these were related
to housing, food insecurity, mental health and addiction, and support services.
While developing the goals for Phase 3, we analyzed response rates from other recent
community surveys and determined that at least 400 responses were needed for statistically
reliable results. Over an eight-week period, OVFOCF collected 533 responses, achieving 96%
accuracy with a 4% margin of error.
The public survey was primarily distributed online via Survey Monkey, chosen for its accessibility,
affordability, and ease of use. To maximize outreach, we leveraged multiple channels, including
social media, digital advertising, partnerships with community organizations, printed ads,
community events, and manual paper distribution at the Food Bank.
Key Highlights
Diverse Feedback: 35% of responses were completed by Food Bank clientele,
ensuring representation from a range of financial and demographic
backgrounds. This also provided valuable insights into the Food Bank's
operations.
Online Engagement: 65% of responses came through the Survey Monkey URL
link, demonstrating strong engagement via digital platforms.
32,688 POPULATION
12,339 HOUSEHOLDS
12,877 HOUSING UNITS
76.4% HOMEOWNERSHIP RATE
$93,613 MEDIAN ANNUAL INCOME
59.1% EMPLOYMENT RATE
SURVEY
DEVELOPMENT
Survey questions were developed using a peer organization’s needs assessment and informed
by the data collected in Phase 1. OVFOCF then invited a select group of community and staff
members to test the survey before its public launch and made minor adjustments based on
their feedback.
Goals for survey efficacy were determined based on publicly available data from recent US
Census reports. These data points were used to determine the sample size for each
demographic area which would allow us to confidently report the data collected.
These benchmark data points included total area population, age, median annual household
income, and more.
ORANGEVALE
FAIR OAKS
34,514 POPULATION
12,946 HOUSEHOLDS
13,958 HOUSING UNITS
70% HOMEOWNERSHIP RATE
$111,332 MEDIAN ANNUAL INCOME
57.6% EMPLOYMENT RATE
43 MEDIAN AGE
21% 65+ YEARS OLD
93.9% ADULTS HAVE H.S.
DIPLOMA/EQUIVALENT OR HIGHER
29.5% HAVE 4-YEAR DEGREE OR HIGHER
8.8% RESIDENTS LIVING IN POVERTY
47 MEDIAN AGE
25.5% 65+ YEARS OLD
96.4% ADULTS HAVE H.S.
DIPLOMA/EQUIVALENT OR HIGHER
46.4% HAVE 4-YEAR DEGREE OR HIGHER
8.3% RESIDENTS LIVING IN POVERTY
“What do you do in
Orangevale & Fair
Oaks?“
57%
27%
21%
LIVE
WORK
ATTEND
SCHOOL
15%
VOLUNTEER
36%
SHOP & DINE
White: 77%
Prefer Not to Answer: 6%
Asian or Asian American: 4%
Hispanic or Latino: 4%
Black or African American: 3%
Another Race: 6%
ETHNICITY
Female: 66%
Male: 32%
Prefer Not to Answer: 3%
Nonbinary: .9%
GENDER IDENTITY
65+: 31%
55-64: 18%
45-54: 17%
35-44: 19%
25-34: 11%
18-24: 1%
Under 18: 4%
Prefer Not to Answer: 2%
AGE
Above $60,000: 27%
Below $60,000: 49%
Prefer Not to Answer: 24%
ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME
Born & Raised Here: 11%
More Than 10 Years: 51%
6-10 years: 12%
1-5 years: 19%
Less than 1 year: 2%
I don’t live in OVFO: 6%
YEARS LIVING IN OVFO:
59% with no children under 18
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION
Long-Term Residents: 88% have lived in
Orangevale/Fair Oaks for over 10 years
Age Distribution: Majority aged 55+
Most households have 1-2 members
Strongly Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neither Agree nor Disagree
Somewhat Disagree
Strongly Disagree
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
“I feel connected to Orangevale/Fair Oaks.”
63%
STRONGLY
AGREE
Strongly
Agree
Somewhat
Agree
Neither
Agree
nor
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Somewhat
Disagree
“I am willing to actively engage in making
Orangevale/Fair Oaks a better place.”
59%
STRONGLY
AGREE
Strongly Agree: 59%
Somewhat Agree: 32%
Neither agree nor disagree: 9%
Somewhat Disagree: 1%
Strongly Disagree: .7%
“I CURRENTLY donate time or money to any local
Orangevale or Fair Oaks organizations.”
38%
STRONGLY
AGREE
COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY
ASSETS
ASSETS
“Please tell us how important each of the
following community assets are to you.”
AT A GLANCE
AT A GLANCE
95.6%
95.6%
92.8%
92.8%
92.6%
92.6%
88.9%
88.9%
88.7%
88.7%
Healthy and Strong Families
Access to Quality Healthcare
Community Unity and Trust
Adequate Spaces and/or
Opportunities for
Recreational Activities
Elderly Care Options