Transcript Using Information For Community Change

USING INFORMATION FOR
COMMUNITY CHANGE
Finding the Data
that Work for Your
Community
Tom Kingsley and Kathy Pettit,
The Urban Institute
NAPC-CIC National Conference - May 14, 2005
FOR COMMUNITY INDICATOR SYSTEMS
Major improvement in data availability
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Purpose this briefing
– Review the new opportunities
– Talk about how to take advantage of them
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Advances driven by needs for new data to enable
interpretation
1. Data for smaller areas (neighborhoods)
– Problems unevenly distributed across space
– City level averages tell little (misleading)
– Need to know where, how much, when
2. Data for larger areas (for comparison)
– Don’t know where you stand unless know how relate to others
Three kinds of advances affect
LOCAL AND STATE/NATIONAL DATA
Local
National
New data sets
Automated
records, local
agencies
Making data sets
(admin.& survey)
accessible
Tools (access
and manipulate)
GIS technology
Web technology
GIS technology
Web technology
New/stronger
Institutions
Intermediaries
(e.g., NNIP)
Intermediaries
(e.g., Fannie
Mae Fdn., NICS)
Local administrative data – power with
MULTI-SOURCE, MULTI-TOPIC SYSTEMS
Neighborhood level –
social/economic/physical
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Births, deaths
Crimes
TANF, Food Stamps
Child care
Health
Schools
Employment
Parcel level – physical/
economic
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Prop. sales, prices
Prop. ownership
Code violations
Assessed values
Tax arrears
Vacant/abandoned
City/CDC plans
PARCEL LEVEL DATA -BALTIMORE
NEIGHBORHOOD DATA -BALTIMORE
NEIGHBORHOOD PROFILES- PROVIDENCE
Institutions: National Neighborhood
Indicators Partners (NNIP)
Atlanta
Baltimore
Boston
Camden
Chattanooga
Cleveland
Denver
Des Moines
Hartford
Indianapolis
Louisville
Los Angeles
Miami
Milwaukee
Nashville
New Orleans
Oakland
Philadelphia
Providence
Sacramento
Seattle
Washington, DC
More cities -- at various stages
Battle Creek
Canton
Chicago
Columbus
Dallas
Detroit
Grand Rapids
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Little Rock
Memphis
Minneapolis
Newark
New Haven
New York
Phoenix
Pittsburgh
Portland
Richmond
San Antonio
St. Louis
Toledo
Utica
Winston-Salem
NNIP Data Intermediaries:
INFORMATION FOR CHANGE
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Democratizing Information
- Facilitating the direct use of data by stakeholders
not just writing the reports yourself
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A central mission — strengthening, empowering
low-income neighborhoods
- Partners work for many clients but influence
of this theme evident in all their work
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Information as a bridge for collaboration
NNIP DATA INTERMEDIARIES
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NNIP Partners (to date, mostly nonprofits
partnering with governments)
- Government agencies (Seattle)
- Community foundations (Atlanta, Boston, Denver)
- University centers (Cleveland, Los Angeles)
- United Way based groups (Des Moines, Indianapolis)
- Nonprofit intermediaries (Chattanooga, Louisville, Miami,
Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Providence,
Sacramento)
- Local Coalitions (Baltimore, Camden, Hartford, Oakland,
Washington)
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All work by collaborating
- With public agencies, nonprofits, businesses
 Offer
a one-stop-shop for data
- Tremendous efficiency for users
- Benefits of social infrastructure
 Positioned
to maintain trust of data
providers and users over long term
- Not linked to short term political interest
- Care with cleaning and release of data
 Are,
or can be, locally self sustaining
- Fee/project income can cover majority of cost
- But some local general support required
NNIP – LOCAL APPLICATIONS
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Comprehensive Indicator Systems
- Only Boston and Baltimore so far
- Expect expansion, with links to CIC, KNII
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Applications indicators in change initiatives
- Welfare-to-work planning (5 cities)
- Prisoner reentry issues (12 cities)
- Neighborhood health studies/programs (5 cities)
- Community development/land market (6 cities)
- Early warning indicators
- Applications with neighborhood residents (use
indicators in improvement planning, change external
laws/practices)
Recent national initiatives create
NEW OPPORTUNITIES
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Community Indicators Consortium
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National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership
(NNIP)
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National Infrastructure for Community Statistics
(NICS)
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Key National Indicators Initiative (KNII)
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Fannie Mae Foundation’s DataPlace
All call for new efforts to BUILD LOCAL CAPACITY
– Recognize few cities have systems so far
NNIP: Partnership Agenda
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Building tools around innovations
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NNIP Partners’ Data System and DataPlace
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Cross-site studies to learn about the dynamics of
neighborhood change
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Many forms of dissemination
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Limited technical assistance to help groups in
new cities get started
National Infrastructure for
Community Statistics (NICS)
– Goal – accessible, integrated sources of data at all levels
– 30-40 federal agencies, national nonprofits, local
stakeholders and foundations coordinated by Brookings
– A forum to exchange data, services and products:
» Data: new sets with community-level information
» Tools: to better access, manage, combine, clean,
compare and analysis community statistics
– Began with four workshops on local, state, federal and
private stakeholders
– Currently beginning pilot projects and fund raising
Key National Indicators Initiative (KNII)
– Goal – create national indicator system and
promote use of indicators at all levels
– Mobilized by GAO, now coordinated by National
Academy of Sciences
– Will use available data sources to describe
American people, the economy, and the
environment
– But also identify gaps for key unanswered
questions
– Current funding from Hewlett Foundation; role in
system development uncertain
Fannie Mae Foundation’s DataPlace
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Created in response to request for easy-toaccess data from KnowledgePlex users’ survey
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Housing and demographic data at geographic
scales from the neighborhood to the nation
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Dynamic interfaces for producing maps, charts,
tables, and statistical profiles
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Aids to facilitate data use, such as metadata,
analytic guidebooks, and illustrative analyses
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Directory of housing data resources on the Web
National data –
MULTI-SOURCE, MULTI-TOPIC
Neighborhood level –
census tracts/zip codes
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Decennial Census
Mortgage lending
Subsidized housing
Establishments
Income/EITC
School characteristics
Nonprofit sector
Larger-Area Data –
counties, metros, states
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Population estimates
Amer. Comm. Survey
Building Permits
Unemployment
Home prices
Local employment (LED)
Income/poverty
Finding the Data that Work
for Your Community
Mailing address:
Tom Kingsley or Kathy Pettit
National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership
c/o The Urban Institute
2100 M Street NW
Washington, DC 20037
 Web
site: www.urban.org/nnip
 Email: [email protected] , [email protected]