Against this background, the growing interest in, and advocacy of, empowerment models of evaluation (e.g., Fetterman 2000; Fetterman and Wandersman 2005) take on special significance. A defining characteristic of empowerment philosophy is its responsiveness to the perceived needs of disenfranchised and marginalized stakeholders, including social-problems subjects. The voices of these stakeholders are more likely to be heard directly when community-based techniques are appropriately used by evaluators to surface them. Thus, the linking of an empowerment orientation to needs assessment methodology might be conceptualized as “assisted claimsmaking.” That is, an empowerment perspective vigorously advocates for the right of marginalized groups to have their views communicated clearly and taken seriously by other, traditionally more powerful, stakeholders.