Building Community Resilience and Economic Empowerment: Community Extension in Practice by a Local College

Abstract

This study presents a structured community needs assessment of a localized purok in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines, to identify socio-demographic realities, infrastructure gaps, and unmet development needs. Actual data have been collected from 58 households (n = 58) using a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional survey design. Results demonstrate the contradiction that, despite the existence of health services and disaster response services which have gained acceptance in the community, the community is severely lacking in economic empowerment programs. The findings prove the existence of a 58.62% unemployment rate, 94.83% of households living below the poverty line, and the significant unavailability of infrastructural services, such as unstable water supply and poor road networks. Surprisingly, despite this vulnerability, there are several hidden capabilities, such as an active female population (91.38%) and informal micro-businesses (34.48%). To cover these gaps, the research introduces an integrated extension framework based on agricultural improvement, entrepreneurial development, and civil service training. Among the suggested measures are creation of urban agricultural cooperatives, training seminars on business organization, bookkeeping, and digital marketing, as well as structured training sessions aimed at preparation for passing the Civil Service Exam (CSE).