Community Indicators Consortium News

Boston Indicators Project

2010-05-12T16:34:04Z

"Boston Indicators" have released their 5th biennial report: "A Great Reckoning: Healing a Growing Divide", which shows that even in the successful knowledge economy, income inequality has widened. The entire report can be found here.

JCCI's 5th Annual Race Relations Progress Report

2010-05-12T16:37:05Z

The "Jacksonville Community Council Inc" has released its fifth annual race relations progress report. The report easures progress toward eliminating disparities in Education, Employment and Income, Neighborhoods and Housing, Health, Justice, and Politics and Civic Engagement, and can be read in its entirety here.

Results of CIC Elections

2010-02-11T19:27:52Z

CIC welcomes Jeri Asher, Ted Greenwood and Meg Holden to its Board of Directors.

CIC 2009 Conference

2010-05-12T16:29:48Z

CIC's 2009 Conference, held Oct 1-2, 2009 at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue Washingon was attended by over 175 people and featured more than 75 presentations and workshops on how community inicators are being used to create positve change in communities. Read more.

Urban Institute releases MetroTrends

2010-05-28T13:52:26Z

MetroTrends, from the Urban Institute, contains the latest information on social and economic trends in urban America and get seasoned perspectives on what they mean for workers, families, businesses, and neighborhoods. The website includes up-to-date indicators from seven national data sources on conditions and trends in the nation's metropolitan regions and expert commentary on interlocking trends in:

employment growth
mortgage lending and house prices
earnings and material hardship
immigration and diversity and
the well-being of children

in the top 100 metropolitan areas nationwide. MetroTrends is intended to fuel evidence-based debate about the nationwide impacts of:

recession and recovery
critical differences among metropolitan regions
persistent or emerging disparities among population groups

As economic stresses renew public interest in government policy, MetroTrends is a resource for citizens and policymakers who need timely, reliable information to make sensible decisions, administer programs effectively, vote, and help their own communities go forward. learn more

Canadian Water Indicators Report

2010-05-28T13:52:38Z

Currently in Canada, no central location or repository exists for fresh water-related indicators and their associated data. Little attention has been given to characterizing and analyzing the types of environmental indicators currently available in the water sector. A recently released report, Dunn, Gemma and Karen Bakker (2009). Canadian Approaches to Assessing Water Security: An inventory of indicators. Vancouver BC: UBC Program on Water Governance, fills this gap. The report reviews and evaluates existing fresh water-related indicators in Canada and analyzes the capacity of these indicators to aid decision-making. The report includes an inventory of 365 Canadian fresh water-related indicators, the first of its kind. The inventory is analyzed and the key gaps and overlaps are highlighted. In addition, we explore the impact of jurisdictional fragmentation in federal and provincial/territorial government on the uptake of indicators. Focusing at the federal and provincial/territorial levels, we identify key drivers and trends in indicator development and identify major obstacles in Canada’s capacity to assess water security. We present recommendations designed to increase the effectiveness of water security assessments in Canada. This policy report, the first in a series, documents and assesses the strength of the indicators currently used in Canada to measure and assess water security, with a focus on both federal and provincial levels. For further information, please contact: Gemma Dunn.

CIC launches new web site

2010-05-28T12:49:59Z

Community Indicators Consortium's Board of Directors is delighted to announce the launch of our new web site.

While this was a collaborative effort, the website reflects the wise leadership, commitment, and technical skills of CIC Board Member Joe Baldwin, Chair of the Technology and Website Committee. For many months, Joe shepherded the process of rethinking and redesigning the site in order to provide CIC members with new ways to network and learn from one other. Thank you, Joe!

We are also in the process of launching an exciting new searchable on-line database of community indicator projects.

Now it's your turn. Please help us to keep CIC's new website fresh by:

Sending us your news about reports, research, events or other items of interest to community indicator practitioners so that we can add it to the web site.
Filling out our on-line survey with up-to-date information about your indicators project in order to create a comprehensive listing of projects around the world (see below for information about CIC's on-line searchable database of indicator projects).
Participating in and contributing to learning and networking activities, such as webinars and the CIC conference (planned for March 2011 in partnership with the Public Performance Measurements & Reporting Network; stay tuned!).
And, most importantly, joining CIC or renewing your membership if it's time. (For information about our Members' Only website features and details about how to get involved in CIC activities, please read the message from the Co-Chairs of the Membership, Outreach and Marketing Committee).

Thank you for your work to advance the art and science of using indicators to improve our communities and our world, and thank you for being a member and supporter of CIC.

With all best wishes,

Charlotte Kahn
President, CIC Board of Directors
Director, Boston Indicators Project

Call for Real Stories

2010-05-27T12:21:24Z

We are pleased to announce the 2010 call for Real Stories about communities integrating community indicators and performance measures to enhance the use of data by citizens and public officials for better decision-making to improve overall community decisions. We are in the process of selecting the ten best. The authors will be awarded with $2,000 each when their stories are published. This is part of the ongoing project that CIC is coordinating under a two-year grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The purpose of the grant is to promote, advocate for, and develop a community of practice for integrating community indicators and government performance measures, and for engaging citizens and other key community stakeholders in the process. This expands upon the previous work that identified the benefits and barriers to integrating indicators and performance measures. To learn more CIC’s efforts to promote the integration of community indicators and performance measures follow the CI-PM Integration link.

NYT article: Beyond GDP

2010-06-07T08:12:04Z

In “The Rise and Fall of the G.D.P.”, Jon Gerner of the New York Times describes the growing movement to expand how we measure progress as a society beyond the traditional indicator of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It features Chris Hoenig from State of the USA, a nonprofit organization developing a website to provide a single place to track progress across a range of national concerns.

Launch of National Data Catalog

2010-06-07T08:17:40Z

Sunlight Labs recently launched their National Data Catalog, an open platform for government data sets and APIs. It makes it easy to find datasets by and about government, across all levels (federal, state, and local) and across all branches (executive, legislative, and judicial). The data here is imported from multiple sources and curated by Sunlight Labs staff. They aggregate sources from: data.gov, data.dc.gov, utah.gov, datasf.org, and the Sunlight Foundation and its partners. The hope is to expand its reach as the federal government moves forward on its open data agenda and more local and state governments embrace the open data movement.

Trends in Metro America

2010-06-11T09:36:49Z

UI has updated indicators (http://metrotrends.org/data.html) on house prices, employment in the manufacturing sector, job losses, and unemployment in the top 100 metro areas nationwide. House prices continued to fall through the end of 2009 and unemployment remained high, but between October through November of 2009, employment increased. The manufacturing sector, however, continued to shrink as a share of all jobs. The story is not the same everywhere. As our figures illustrate, trends vary considerably across metros.

New unemployment rate charts: http://metrotrends.org/unemployment-charts.html

New house price charts: http://metrotrends.org/house-price-charts.html

Also new on the site:

New Orleans Metropolitan Region: Although public funded rebuilding investments may have staved off some of the worst effects of the recession, New Orleans’ future prosperity remains in question.
Challenges for Health Reform: Health reform will have its biggest effects in areas where large shares of the population are uninsured. Since almost two-thirds of the nation’s uninsured live in the top 100 metro areas, it is important to consider possible variation in impacts of health reform across metros.
Jobs Disappearing in Minority and Immigrant Communities: In many large metros with substantial minority and immigrant populations, manufacturing jobs are being replaced by retail and service sector jobs which may not pay as well.

New Census tutorial on employment data

2010-06-25T10:21:36Z

OnTheMap is a Census Bureau interactive mapping tool that that allows users to visualize and download small-area employment (Local Employment Dynamics -LED) data.

In 24 minutes, this tutorial demonstrates how to do basic analyses using OnTheMap with seven years of employment and segmented age, earnings and industry data for local and regional areas in 47 states.

OnTheMap allows users to define custom areas for detailed analyses; illustrate flows of workers across state borders; produce and export reports and maps; view time-series animation over the seven available years of data; and perform Area Profile and Shed Analyses for work and home areas in both local and regional geographies.

CommunityMatters10 Registration Opens

2010-06-25T10:14:54Z

Registration for the Community Matters '10 conference in Denver, Oct 5-8, 2010 has opened. Sponsored by the Orton Family Foundation, the conference is a unique four-day innovation-action experience that brings together a coalition of leaders, thinkers and doers committed to building strong, vibrant communities from the ground up. The conference agenda includes novel tools and solutions, instructive discussion and hands-on experiences for citizens and community builders. Frances Moore Lappé, the author of Diet for a Small Planet, is a featured speaker and will offer a rousing call for democracy, collaboration, and grassroots action.

Dr. Alex Michalos Appointed

2010-07-17T14:31:45Z

Brandon University is proud to announce that Dr.Alex Michalos has been appointed a Member of the Order of Canada by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada.

He received the honour for his contributions to the social sciences, notably in research that has helped to measure the quality-of-life in Canada and abroad.

"This is a delightful surprise. I wish my parents had lived to see it," says Michalos. "I moved to Canada from the States on July 1, 1966. Became a Canadian citizen in 1973 and 44 year later to the day, obtained this wonderful recognition. Some good luck, eh?"

He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Brandon University. He is also the Director of Research for the Canadian Index of Wellbeing and Emeritus Professor in Political Science at his former institution, the University of Northern British Columbia.

Michalos has published 24 books, over 100 refereed articles, and founded or co-founded seven scholarly journals. Among the seven, he is Editor in Chief for the Journal of Business Ethics, the most frequently cited journal in the world devoted to business ethics, and Social Indicators Research, the first scholarly journal devoted to quality of life research.

He is married to Dr. Deborah Poff, President and Vice-Chancellor of Brandon University.

For more information, please contact:
Brant Batters
Communications Officer
Brandon University
(204) 727-9762

communications@brandonu.ca

Foreclosure-Response.org Data and Forum Updates

2010-07-12T17:07:24Z

Foreclosure-Response.org, an online portal for data and information on foreclosure prevention and neighborhood stabilization brought to you by the Center for Housing Policy, LISC, and the Urban Institute, has released updated data, new online mapping tools, and more resources to help communities address foreclosures and stabilize neighborhoods.
Updates include:
New Data: LISC Foreclosure Needs Scores are now available for March 2010 -- These data allow users to see which ZIP codes within each state have high foreclosure needs.
New Maps for All Data: The site now includes three mapping tools, developed in partnership with PolicyMap, to allow users to map the LISC Scores, HMDA High-Cost Purchase Loan data, and HMDA Market Conditions data.
The HousingPolicy.org Forum's Foreclosure Prevention and Neighborhood Stabilization groups also hosts numerous new discussions including questions about insuring vacant properties, competitive grants for neighborhoods.

Oxford and UNDP launch a better way to measure poverty

2010-07-17T14:30:58Z

London, 14 July 2010: The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) of Oxford University and the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launched a new poverty measure that gives a "multidimensional" picture of people living in poverty which its creators say could help target development resources more effectively.

The new measure, the Multidimensional Poverty Index, or MPI, was developed and applied by OPHI with UNDP support, and will be featured in the forthcoming 20^th anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development Report. The MPI supplants the Human Poverty Index, which had been included in the annual Human Development Reports since 1997.

The 2010 UNDP Human Development Report will be published in late October, but research findings from the Multidimensional Poverty Index were made available today at a policy forum in London and on-line on the websites of OPHI (www.ophi.org.uk).

Report Reveals National Indicators of the Well-Being of Children

2010-07-17T14:42:21Z

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics has released "America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2010." This report continues a series of annual reports to the nation on the well-being of children in the United States. The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences, in cooperation with 21 other federal agencies, contributes indicators to the report and supports its production.

According to the report's section on education, eighth graders' average mathematics scale scores increased between 2007 and 2009, as did eighth graders' average reading scale scores. Not all the report's findings were positive, however; the proportion of youth aged 16-19 who were neither enrolled in school nor working increased from 8 percent to 9 percent between 2008 and 2009.

The 2010 Childstats website includes 68 tables and 59 figures that describe the population of children and depict their well-being in the areas of family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education, and health.

You can view, download, and print the report at http://childstats.gov/

RWJF Announces Community Health Action Web Forum

2010-07-17T14:51:30Z

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is soliciting ideas on how communities can use the County Health Rankings to mobilize action to improve health outcomes. To do so, the Foundation has launched an online forum for public health and community leaders across the country to post ideas on how communities can, using the Rankings as a catalyst, start, expand or renew efforts to address the many social, economic, environmental and behavioral factors that affect health.

Visit the forum to share your ideas on what motivates communities to take action, how to engage and mobilize partners across all sectors, and what types of tools, training and assistance can help communities improve health outcomes. The forum can be found at: www.chrideas.ideascale.com and will be open for comments until August 6, 2010.

2010 KIDS COUNT Data Book Now Available

2010-07-27T11:48:37Z

Community Indicators Consortium is pleased to join the Annie E. Casey Foundation as a 2010 KIDS COUNT Data Book Outreach Partner. The annual Data Book is a comprehensive resource on the status of U.S. children, featuring state-specific data on ten key indicators of child well-being. Please visit the online Data Center, to download the report and create maps, graphs, and charts at the national, state, and local level.

CI-PM Webinar recording available

2010-08-04T17:27:43Z

The first webinar in the CIC Series on Integrating Community Indicators and Performance Measures, titled Integrating Community Indicators and Performance Measures to Enhance Goverance and Citizen Engagement, was held on Aug 4th. To see more information about the webinar or to get a copy of the powerpoint presentation or listen to the recording, see our CIC Webinar Archive page.

Worst case Needs report from AHS

2010-08-19T13:23:23Z

From: American Housing Survey (AHS) ListServ <ahs@huduser.org>

The 2007 Worst Case Needs report, based largely on the American Housing Survey, has been released and is available for download from HUD USER, at

http://www.huduser.org/portal/publications/affhsg/wc_HsgNeeds07.html

Coalition on Human Needs Census Data Webinar

2010-09-02T13:03:43Z

Tuesday, September 7, 2:00PM-3:00PM EST, Webinar. The Coalition on Human Needs (CHN) is holding a FREE webinar, meant to provide training on the important tools needed to understand upcoming data from the US Census. On September 16th and 28th, the Census will release 2009 data on poverty, income, and health insurance, which should elucidate the unsettling impact of the recent economic recession. The September 7th webinar will help citizens understand what kinds of data will be presented, what to look for in the data, what it might mean, and how to best write about the census results. Register here.