CIC Innovation Awards

For the third year, CIC will be celebrating promising indicator practics with its Innovation Awards. Tell us about your project and how it has benefitted and brought change in your community, or nominate a project you feel meets the criteria. International projects are welcome. Go to www.communityindicators.net to learn more about the Awards and how to enter. Deadline for entries is 12 May 2008.

HIGHLIGHTING PROMISING PRACTICES
THE COMMUNITY INDICATORS CONSORTIUM
INNOVATION AWARDS 2008

“When an outside entity…recognizes your work, it elevates the
value of that product locally” Donna Sines, Executive Director, Community Vision,
Osceola County, FL, Third Place Winner 2007

For the third year in a row, we are delighted to invite you to apply for the Community Indicators Consortium’s (CIC) Innovation Awards Applications are due Monday, May 12, 2008.

We are seeking nominations of indicator projects (US or international) that best demonstrate positive change in their communities and the power of indicators to drive that change. The communities will likely be geographically contiguous areas, but they might be topical communities.

The purpose of the Awards is

• to celebrate the successes of outstanding indicator projects and the people who
  create and manage them
• to add to the public body of knowledge about community indicator projects’ best
  practices.

As before, we anticipate first, second, and third place awards and a selective number of nominations will be recognized as honorable mentions. The three winners and the honorable mentions will add to the body of knowledge about promising practices in the world of indicators. The winners will be invited to speak at our Annual Conference in Arlington, VA, on June 26 – 28, 2008, and their web links will be put on our website.

The more CIC can share the good news and celebrate success, the more we can help you, and practitioners and community leaders like you, to create real change and real benefit to your communities.

“CIC provides a forum…we were able to learn from like-minded
professionals and share Baltimore’s story of data-driven management”
Christ Thomaskutty, Deputy Mayor, Baltimore
CitiStat, Second Place Winner 2007

CRITERIA AND QUALIFICATIONS
Projects can be hosted by non-profit organizations, local government entities, or academic institutions. They will publish, electronically or in hard-copy, data-based indicators on community conditions for the purposes of better understanding conditions of concern and improving those conditions. Your community may be large or it may be small, but your impact will be significant.

We are interested in:

• Specific changes caused by the projects
• The tools and mechanisms used to catalyze action and drive community change

HOW TO APPLY
Applications are due Monday, May 12, 2008

1—A one-paragraph summary describing the nature of your project, the actual or forthcoming changes in the community that can be ascribed to the project, and the mechanisms through which change came about. Please include the name of the project, the sponsoring organization, contact name with phone number and e-mail address, name of the community your project covers, the project web site or published report, and the size of your organization (staff plus volunteers)

2—A short narrative (maximum three pages) describing the project in greater detail, including background and scope, what changes have occurred, and how you created/fostered these changes. For example:

• Why and when was your project created, what need brought it into being
• How wide-spread is its current and future impact
• What are/were your goals
• The size of the community your project seeks to influence
• Who benefits, directly and indirectly
• Specifically, what changes have occurred as a result of your work
• How did you do it
• What tools and methods have you employed
• What have you learned, and what can we learn from you

3—Provide the names, with contact information, of at least three individuals who are not paid project staff who would be willing to speak about the strength, value, and influence of your project.

THE EVALUATION PROCESS

1—All applications will be reviewed by at least three experts in the field of indicators. Choices will be made based on the projects’ meeting of the criteria. A panel of seven experts will be chosen by CIC.

2—Experts will independently rank the selected projects and then they will discuss their individual choices to reach consensus on the top ten projects.

3—The experts will conduct telephone interviews with the non-staff people you identify as knowing about the strength and influence of the project.

TIMELINE
Finalists will be notified by Friday, May 23, 2008. Winners will be notified by Friday, June 10, 2008. Winners will be invited to attend the Sixth Annual CIC Conference in Arlington, VA, on June 26 – 28, 2008, to speak about their projects and to receive their awards. Visit our web site, http://www.communityindicators.net/ , for more information about the Conference.

SEND YOUR APPLICATION TO:

Lynda Fairbanks Atkins
Interim Executive Director
Lfairbanks-atkins@comcast.net

Or

Community Indicators Consortium
Post Office Box 8222
Lynn, MA 01904

Electronic submission is preferred