NAPC Conference: Mariana Salazar

Mariana Salazar, MPA, who is a planner with the Travis County Health and Human Services Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program (http://www.co.travis.tx.us/health_human_services/CDBG/default.asp), provided her summary of the National Association of Planning Councils conference. You'll notice immediately that I haven't written about several of the sessions, or anything about the Wednesday meetings that were probably of the most interest to community indicators practitioners. I'll plead guilty -- I was kept too busy during the sessions to blog them, and then my flight to Jacksonville didn't get back until after midnight -- and once I was here, I got caught up in other things. I'll try to add my reflections on the bigger picture of what the Wednesday sessions meant for local researchers, data providers, and community engagement/advocacy fairly soon.

In the meantime, I thought I'd let you see Mariana's notes (she said we could share them.) This group, with its expertise with numbers, will likely figure out that there are only 17 web links on my presentation, and it promised 30 data display options. That's my fault for not providing the links to all of them. I owe you the rest.

Anyway, here's her summary. Drop her a line and thank her.

“Community Planning in Turbulent Times: Staying on Top when the Bottom Falls Out”
National Association of Planning Councils (NAPC)
2009 Conference, Austin, TX, March 2 -4

Conference notes

Making the Census Work for Your Community
Speakers: Representatives from the U.S. Census Bureau
The American Community Survey (ACS), a nationwide survey that collects annual population characteristics and demographic information, is replacing the Census long form that was collected every 10 years.
The Census long form surveyed about 1 out of 6 households (about 16 percent of the total population.) The ACS surveys about 3 million addresses annually, or about 2.2 percent of the population.
The Census long form data was a point-in-time survey while the ACS is a continual survey process. Every month households are surveyed. For annual estimates, twelve months of data are combined. For three or five year estimates, 36-months and 60-months data sets are used.
The ACS has tradeoffs between reliability and timeliness. Comparison of data will require careful understanding of methodology so “apples are compared to apples”
Refer to the ACS Compass Products for educational materials http://www.census.gov/acs/www/UseData/Compass/compass_series.html


Community Planning 101
Speaker: Ben Warner, Jacksonville Community Council (Florida)
Community planning as performed by planning councils is nowadays defined by values more so than a specific organizational structure, collaborative partnerships, funding streams or functional areas.
Visit NAPC’s website to see the values discussed.

“The Perfect Storm” – Community Engagement
Speaker: Phil Dessauer and Jan Figart, Community Service Council in Tulsa, OK
Phil and Jan have identified different forces driving demographic, social and economic changes, drawing attention on the need to plan ahead with those forces in mind.
They identify eight big forces: 1) lack of living wages for the huge population of unskilled/lowskilled persons and the growth in income insecurities, 2) current and growing workforce shortage, 3) rapid aging of the population, 4) growing challenges to assure healthy lifestyles and access to quality health care, 5) continued growing immigration, 6) Rapidly changing environmental conditions, 7) increasing uncertainty on our future supply of energy, and 8) growing challenge to the American culture.
Check out their report and other Perfect Storm presentations on their website
http://www.csctulsa.org/the_perfect_storm.htm
Phil and Jan recommended the book “The Tyranny of Dead Ideas” by Matt Miller.

Drivers of change and what they mean for human services and local communities
Jerry Friedman, American Public Human Services Association.
Human Services is a counter-cyclical business: when times are tough and funding is lowest, the needs are greatest. Tough times are an opportunity for transformation.
We need better measures of poverty.
For more of his ideas visit his blog http://www.aphsa.org/blogs/RUPRI.asp

After the Election...
Discussion on free-ranging topics.
Debate on role of councils – facilitating discussions vs. making sense of data/world, creating spaces of dialogue vs. “telling the news,” can both roles be played effectively?
Planning with a scenario in mind rather than longitudinally
Generational divide in the work force – need for mentoring younger generation and opening spaces for the youth to voice their opinions and be part of the process as part of a succession planning strategy.
Recognizing assets from all age-groups,

The economic Crisis and the way forward
Speaker: Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute, (Washington, D.C).
Heidi, labor economist, made the following main points: 1) Since 1973, productivity in the U.S. has increased while median wages have not, the result a decline in “good jobs”, 2) poverty has stagnated since 1973, 3) the growth in GDP has gone to the highest 10%, specifically the highest 1%, and over one-third of all wealth generated has gone to the top one-tenth of one percent. By contrast, the bottom 90 percent shared 9.1 percent of the income growth, 4) mobility has declined, 5) health benefits have declined.
A conversation around the current economic crisis needs to start with the ongoing, 35-year decline in middle-class income and poverty that was untouched by national growth in GDP. No trickle down.
Unemployment Right Now
Unemployment/economic downturn hits people differently by race and ethnicity -- much more dramatic increases in unemployment among black and Hispanic workers: In January 2009, unemployment for whites was estimated at 6.9 percent, 9.7 percent for latinos, and 12.6 percent for African Americans.
The current recession has resulted in 5 million job losses, over 11 million unemployed, and the trend lines are still getting worse. These figures do not include the "discouraged worker" who has given up and is no longer actively seeking work.
In January 2009, 22.4 percent of the unemployed has been unemployed for six months or more. In January 2007, there were 1.6 job seekers for every job opening; in December 2008, there were 4.1 job seekers per opening.
Underemployment -- including unemployed, marginally attached workers and the involuntary part-timers -- is 13.9 percent.
So what do we do about it?
The tough and contradictory choice individuals are facing is between increasing savings/paying down debt and increasing spending. Families need to lower debt and increase savings, while the economy needs increased spending.
How long will recovery take? We don't know. Credit crunch recessions tend to be sharp and short-lived; real estate recessions tend to be more mild but take longer to recovery. We have both at the same time; we don't know how long it will take to bring the economy back. Past recessions have taken 25-47 months to get back to peak-level employment. From March 2001 it took nearly 4 years to get back to peak employment. Most likely, working families are in this for the long haul.
Learn more about Heidi’s work and EPI’s readings on the economy on their websitehttp://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/

Tapping the Mature Workforce—Baby Boomer Retirees Seeking Encore Careers in Nonprofits
Speaker: Martha Blaine, Community Council of Greater Dallas (Dallas, TX)
In the coming years there will be 77 million people reaching the traditional retirement age: NAPCsurvey point 76% of them intend to keep working , 57% of nonprofit EDs are age 50+, 75% of current EDs plan to leave their position by 2011 and nonprofits will need to recruit 640,000 new senior managers
50% of retirees from the for-profit and governmental sectors want jobs in the nonprofit sector. How will nonprofit organizations plan for the expected exodus of current leaders, and train and attract new leaders?
The report “Tapping Encore Talents” from civic ventures explores some of these areas. http://www.civicventures.org/publications/surveys/employerssurvey08/employsurvey_fln_web_oct9.pdf

Developing New Strategies in Bad Economic Times
Speaker: Patrick Linnane, The Planning Council, Milwaukee, WI
Discussion from all participants.
A lot of funders are realigning funding to basic needs leaving non-basic needs non-profits hanging. How can non-profits build reserves during bad times? Entrepreneurial changes needed.
Entrepreneurial changes might mean: getting rid of low-performing initiatives, merging when making sense, lobbying to secure funding, sticking to one’s knowledge base, expanding knowledge strategically, adapting outcomes measurements to reflect the change in funding level, situating the organizations between the different players without duplicating efforts nor competing, combining non-profit work with revenue generating activities.
Non-profit mergers: sometimes they happen out of tragedy. Some mergers make sense while other don’t, they should happen with caution.
The current economic downturn might mask the need to eliminate low performers.
Revenue generating activities: The Dupage Federation on Human Services reform has established a Language Access Resource Center. They offer interpreting services, interpreting training, and translations for fees – all of which help them make money for other aspects of their work.
Planning work should engage business aggressively since they are the ones that create job employment. Council must convince businesses that investing in the communities through partnerships and funding is more than a marketing tool for them – it really impacts welfare of the community as a whole, and the long-term health of workers as both workers and consumers of products.

Increasing Effectiveness in public policy development, research, and analysis
Presenting to Affect Public Policy
Speaker: Dr. Phillip Huang, Austin/ Travis County Health and Human Service Department
Presented the “System Dynamics Modeling” methodology as a new way to use data to affect policy. He is currently using it in the health field. The presentation was specifically about different scenarios with different prevalence of obesity as a result of different combinations of “upstream and downstream” interventions. The methodology allows estimating which intervention is most cost-effective.

Mapping Data to track Indicators, target solutions and maximize impact
Speaker: Jim Walker, Envision Central Texas
Jim presented the Central Texas Sustainability Indicator Project
http://www.centex-indicators.org/index.html
Jim showed maps of socio-economic trends at the neighborhood level in Austin, at the Travis county level, and at a regional level. He recommended planning councils to tap into the resources of universities with graduate students who have mastered GIS mapping skills. “Do not try to learn ArcMap in one day - get a graduate student who can do the job well”

Using CLICKS to chart trends and save time
Speaker: Frances P. Deviney, Center for Public Policy Priorities
Check out the community level information on kids on
http://www.kidscount.org/cgi-bin/cliks.cgi

Mapping Data using accessible, no-cost tools for assessment and planning
Speaker: Sean Moran, Capital Area Council of Government (CAPCOG)
US Census Bureau – Led on the Map = maps showing where workers are employed and where they live : http://lehdmap3.did.census.gov/
Users with Google Earth can view CAPCOG's geospatial data by downloading KMZ files.

Using visual Imagery to describe the world
Speakers: Sunni Brown, BrightSpot Information Design
Sunni displayed ways in which illustrations, graphics recording and digital cartoons are applied for meeting mappings, facilitation, strategic visioning, systems & solutions mapping.
Check out her work at http://sunnibrown.com/

Data Displays – 30 examples in 30 minutes
Speakers: Ben Warner, Jacksonville Community Council
Different ways to display data in an effective and engaging way:

Tactical Technology Collective http://www.tacticaltech.org/
Visual Literacy Periodic Table of Visualization
http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html
Many Eyes http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/
Graph Jam http://graphjam.com/
Gapminder http://www.gapminder.org/
So Many a Second http://smas.studioludens.com/
Widgenie http://www.widgenie.com/
Swivel http://www.swivel.com/
Mapping Worlds http://www.mappingworlds.com/
Dataplace http://www.dataplace.org/
Policy Maps http://www.policymap.com/
Instant Atlas http://www.instantatlas.com/
Every Block http://www.everyblock.com/
My Apartment Map http://www.myapartmentmap.com/
Chris Jordan http://www.chrisjordan.com/
The Mega Penny Project http://www.kokogiak.com/megapenny/
Infosthetics http://infosthetics.com/

Community Planning in a Digital World: New Methods of Community Engagement Speakers: Taylor Willinghan from Texas Forums, Silona Bonewald, League of Technical Voters
Taylor et all talked about the myriad ways that digital tools can be used for collaborative work.
Social Networks: Twitter and Facebook are effectively being used in the professional realm as tools for civic engagement, organizing, and voluntarism.
Blogs are currently being used as places for hyperlocal news, citizen journalism and placebloggers. Positive news about what is happening in communities are often submitted by unusual suspects. Example of letter submitted by fourth grade students in the Northfield.org Blog http://northfield.org/ . Many blogs are hosting weekly podcast with local news. Blogs as forms of citizen participation might work best in communities that are already civic-minded.
Wikis - present an opportunity for collaborative work. One of the most basic wikis is google.docs.
Other recommended sites:
Mind Mapping Software
Mind Manager
http://www.mindjet.com/
Mind Mapping
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
FreeMind (Open Source and free for Windows, Mac and Linux)
Knowbility – Organization focusing on barrier-free IT to support independence of people with disabilities http://www.knowbility.org/main/
Search engine for blogs: http://technorati.com/
Training in Plain Englishhttp://www.commoncraft.com/

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Saddest Cities, Manliest Cities, And More Silly Rankings

I've vented my opinion on the disturbing trend to rank cities using increasingly silly criteria (see the crack research staff that brought you America's Drunkest Cities.) Now two new rankings have hit my desk, and I thought I'd share their methodologies with you.

First, from Business Week comes a report on America's Unhappiest Cities (not to be confused with Forbes.com's America's Most Miserable Cities.) (Portland, Oregon's the Unhappiest City, and Stockton, California's the Most Miserable. The lists look nothing alike.)

Here's the Unhappiest Cities Methodology:

BusinessWeek.com ranked 50 of the largest metros based on a variety of factors including depression rates, suicide rates, divorce rates, crime, unemployment, population loss, job loss, weather and green space. The most heavily weighted factors were the depression, suicide, jobs (unemployment and job loss) and crime rates. The depression rate is based on survey and aggregated insurance reporting information at time of discharge, doctor's office visits and insurance process filings. The suicide rate is for 2004 and comes from The 2007 Big Cities Health Inventory compiled by the National Assembly of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO). The crime risk indexes for property and crime used for the scoring were based on FBI crime reporting for the seven most-recent available years. Divorce rates and 2009 population change come from the U.S. Census. The number of cloudy days came from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.

And the Most Miserable Cities methodology:

We compiled our rankings by looking at the 150 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S., which meant those with a population of at least 378,000. We ranked those metros on nine factors: commute times, corruption, pro sports teams, Superfund sites, taxes (both income and sales), unemployment, violent crime and weather.

For this year's ranking, we added the corruption component. We used the criminal conviction of government officials in each area over the past decade as compiled by the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice.

But that's nothing compared to this list of America's Manliest Cities, with this indicator set developed by the people who put the cheesy stuff inside a crunchy snack and call it Combos (I wasn't aware they still sold them):

The Manly Methodology

The rankings were determined using 50 of the largest metropolitan areas as defined by the United States Census Bureau, which includes a central city and the surrounding county (or counties).

Each metro area received a manliness rating between 0 and 100 based on how well it performed in each of the study's manly categories. Factors used to determine the manliest city rankings included the number of U.S.-made cars driven in the city, number of sports bars and BBQ restaurants, number of home improvement and hardware stores as well as manly salty snacks consumption. All data was adjusted by the current population of the cities to arrive at "per capita" figures, providing an accurate comparison between cities of varying sizes.

"America's Manliest Cities"

1. Nashville, Tenn.
2. Charlotte, N.C.
3. Oklahoma City, Okla.
4. Cincinnati, Ohio
5. Denver, Colo.
6. St. Louis, Mo.
7. Columbus, Ohio
8. Kansas City, Mo.
9. Indianapolis, Ind.
10. Toledo, Ohio

Now aren't you feeling a little happier (and more rugged) for knowing this? What other city rankings (useful or ridiculous) do you enjoy?

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NAPC Conference: The Economic Crisis, and Ways Forward

Heidi Shierholz, labor economist and co-author of "The State of Working America," addressed the NAPC conference next. She comes from the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

Her slideshow presentation will be available shortly. The key points are:

1. Since 1973, productivity in the U.S. has increased. Median wages have not.
2. Poverty has stagnated since 1973.
3. The growth in GDP has gone to the highest 10%, specifically the highest 1%, and over one-third of all wealth generated has gone to the top one-tenth of one percent. By contrast, the bottom 90 percent shared 9.1 percent of the income growth.
4. Mobility declined.
5. Health benefits have declined.

And the economic bad news continues. This suggests that the conversation around the current economic crisis needs to start with the ongoing, 35-year decline in middle-class income and resistant poverty that was untouched by national growth in GDP.

The current recession has us with a 5 million job loss, over 11 million unemployed, and the trend lines still getting worse. And this does not include the "discouraged worker" who has given up and is no longer actively seeking work.

In January 2009, 22.4 percent of the unemployed has been unemployed for six months or more.

In January 2007, there were 1.6 job seekers for every job opening; in December 2008, there were 4.1 job seekers per opening.

Underemployment -- including unemployed, marginally attached workers and the involuntary part-timers -- is 13.9 percent. And unemployment/recession hits people differently by race and ethnicity -- much more dramatic increases in unemployment among black and Hispanic workers.

So what do we do about it?

The Wall Street actions try to get the credit markets flowing so that lenders can lend to businesses that want to expand capacity and people can make big-ticket purchases. The stimulus package intervenes on the demand side through job creation in infrastructure repairs and investments, relief for state governments, consumer supports (such as additional help for the long-term unemployed, food stamps and heating assistance), and tax cuts. (Heidi referenced Mark Zandi and his analysis of the stimulus package.)

The tough choice right now for individuals is between increasing savings/paying down debt and increasing spending. Families need to lower debt and increase savings, while the economy needs increased spending.

How long will recovery take? We don't know. Credit crunch recessions tend to be sharp and short-lived; real estate recessions tend to be more mild but take longer to recovery. We have both at the same time; we don't know how long it will take to bring the economy back. Past recessions have taken 25-47 months to get back to peak-level employment. From March 2001 it took nearly 4 years to get back to peak employment. Most likely, working families are in this for the long haul.

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NAPC Conference: Drivers of Change and What They Mean for Human Services and Local Communities

The opening session on Tuesday of the National Association of Planning Councils (NAPC) annual conference was led by Jerry Friedman, executive director of the American Public Human Services Association.

From their website: The American Public Human Services Association, founded in 1930, is a nonprofit, bipartisan organization of state and local human service agencies and individuals who work in or are interested in public human service programs. Our mission is to develop and promote policies and practices that improve the health and well-being of families, children, and adults. We educate Congress, the media, and the general public on social policies and practices and help state and local public human service agencies achieve their desired outcomes in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, child care, child support, Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, child welfare, and other program areas and issues that affect families, the elderly, and people who are economically disadvantaged.

Friedman began: It's said that the key to being a successful human services planner is simply outliving the opposition.

Charles Dickens said, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." The same describes today. Human Services is a counter-cyclical business: when times are tough and funding is lowest, the needs are greatest. We in human services have always lacked resources. The job is extraordinarily tough. The goals are so high. Our failures are very visible. We are working to put ourselves out of business. We conduct our business in the open. We make a mistake and it's on the front of the newspaper. We have zero tolerance for failure.

The economy is getting worse and worse. States are in deficit situations. The challenges of child abuse, lack of health insurance, unemployment, and other human needs are huge and are growing.

Our work is cut out for us. We need to be strategic in our approaches to meet these challenges. But I am somewhat optimistic -- this is an opportunity for transformation.

Here is one quick example: The election this last year was a monumental change in this country. I'm very optimistic since I live in a country that would make this kind of change. I remember the civil rights movement, and never thought I would live to see this day.

The APHSA developed a set of policy recommendations for the new administration. The executive summary of their report, "Unity of Purpose: Dignity, Independence, Responsibility," says:

The United States faces its worst economic challenge in decades. APHSA's members, the nation's public health and human service administrators, share the widespread alarm over the difficult circumstances under which so many now suffer. As the nation's experts in helping to alleviate need and promoting the highest possible degree of health and independence, we propose a plan that will:

• create a health and human service system that moves beyond the dysfunction of the past


• provide the flexibility necessary for state and local agencies to flourish, yet hold both federal and state health and human service leaders accountable


• deal realistically and with transparency about budget issues


• pay for what works, not simply what we can count

We need better measures of poverty. We can't go back to the 1950s to determine economic deprivation. We need to figure out economic safety nets, health care, and federal-state relationships. The report has a series of recommendations on what we need to do. I see out of this administration a willingness to begin the dialogue to make this happen.

The Focal Point document, Unity of Purpose, was met among the membership with a tremendous sense of urgency. We highlighted the things that could be done within 30 days, and many of these items made it into the stimulus package.

We need to focus first on federal and state relations. We need to restore the match rates. We need to frame the issue from a partnership perspective, with flexibility, with options instead of waivers.

The second was health care. First was SCHIP -- and that's now done. We identified 7 regulations that would have been damaging, and there's now a moratorium on them.

Child well-being is a priority. We want reform of the CFSR process -- no state has passed this process, and it's not working as well as being damaging.

Economic supports, such as child support and TANF reauthorization, need work. Reauthorization for TANF comes up in 2010, and it needs significant reform.

We're at a changing time. Technology is changing how we communicate. That is increasing the rapidity of communication, but also decreasing the civility. (Note: Here's Jerry Friedman's blog: http://www.aphsa.org/blogs/SoundsofSilence.asp)

Do what you've always done, but act like you're on steroids. We have a short window with the stimulus package to think and act rationally. We don't have an exit strategy for this. We need to make sure we understand that the resources coming in are temporary and may be gone in 18 months.

Let's rely on what we know works, but do this more rapidly.

Welfare reform was a success -- not just in many of its outcomes, but in how it was developed. We began with a movement, not a law. Over 40 states had tried new ways to meet needs of the people, and the law came after. And we learned some things.

• We knew that there was a compelling case for change.


• We learned real change came from the community.


• We learned that we needed to work together in partnerships.


• We learned we had to look at the whole person, with all of the problems they faced.


• We learned that a range of policies were needed in order to be effective.

There's a critical opportunity to lead the nation in making change.

• First, we need to be clear about policy and planning. They are often different things. Too often, policy is simply compliance. Policy needs to be grounded in operational reality. But we shouldn't be afraid to dream. We have an opportunity for out-of-the-box solutions.


• Let's be clear about what we're trying to solve. We're not always clear about what success looks like.


• We need to be data driven. In God we trust; for everything else we need data.


• We have to create options and big course corrections. We need flexibility, looking at best practices.


• Let's look at the arguments and be proactive in understanding who won't like the proposed changes -- and why.


• We need to think holistically. How will all these things impact other systems?


• We need to be realistic, living within our means and doing what we can afford.


• We need to get better at sales and marketing. We haven't been really good at getting our message out. We must get better.


• We need to take advantage of the times. This means making the tough decisions that we were reluctant to make when times were good.

The times are tough, yes. But they're also good. I'm optimistic we can make the changes we need.

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NAPC Conference: Community Planning 101

On Monday afternoon, the National Association of Planning Councils held a workshop called Community Planning 101.

Community planning as performed by planning councils is not defined by organizational structure, collaborative partnerships, funding streams, functional areas, topics under discussion, or the kinds of flowcharts you might see in an analytical definition. Especially in today's rapidly-shifting environment when technology, tools, and information are transforming before our eyes.

Instead, something else defines the work.

Peter Stoddard said, "“Planning councils are defined primarily by their agency value structures." 

The NAPC defines those values as follows:

1. Commitment to community and involvement of a broad and diverse constituency
2. Comprehensive perspective reflected in decisions and actions
3. Inclusive decision-making that strives for consensus
4. Diverse viewpoints respected and encouraged in decisions and actions
5. Positive working relationships with all sectors of the community
6. Objective data and information used to support decisions and action
7. Focus on systems change and sustainable, long-term solutions
8. Principled leadership producing measurable results

More information on community planning and planning councils is available at www.communityplanning.org.

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NAPC Conference: Preparing for the Impact of Census Changes on Community Planning

The opening session of the National Association of Planning Councils (NAPC) conference was titled "Preparing for the Impact of Census Changes on Community Planning." [Update: Read about the session in this article in the Austin American-Statesman. ] Will Wynn, mayor of Austin, Texas (where the conference is being held), welcomed the 200+ people packed into the Austin City Hall and spoke of the importance of reliable, timely data for good policy and resource allocation. In growing communities like Austin, the need for updated data is even more crucial.

Judge Sam Biscoe, chair of the Capitol Area Council of Governments, said a few words about the importance of the Census products for the 10-county region.

Vanessa Sarria, of the Community Action Network, introduced the program. Ben Warner, president of the NAPC, thanked the audience, the City of Austin, the Community Action Network, and everyone else who put the program together, then got out of the way so that the real conversation could begin.

Susan Schechter, Chief of the American Community Survey (ACS), spoke first. Her powerpoint presentation will be online shortly, and I'll link to it when it is.

The American Community Survey is a nationwide survey that collects population characteristics and housing information every year, replacing the Census long form that was collected only every 10 years. After testing the survey for a few years, in 2005, the ACS expanded to cover in all counties in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (as well as Puerto Rico, where it's called the Puerto Rico Community Survey.) Other U.S. territories (such as Guam) are not covered by the ACS and will still have the Census long form in 2010.

The Census long form surveyed about 1 out of 6 households (about 16 percent of the total population.) The ACS surveys about 3 million addresses annually, or about 2.2 percent of the population. This means that the ACS has some tradeoffs between reliability and currency (timeliness, not money).

The Census long form data was a point-in-time survey. The ACS instead is a continual survey process. Every month households are surveyed. For annual estimates, twelve months of data are combined. For three or five year estimates, 36-month and 60-month data sets are used.

For areas of 65,000 or more, one-year estimates of population characteristics are available. For areas of 20,000 and up, three-year estimates are available. For areas under 20,000 population, the only estimates available are five-year estimates.

In 2006, the ACS sample was expanded to include the population living in group quarters. Group quarters include nursing homes, correctional facilities, military barracks, and college/university housing among others.

In 2008, the first 3-year estimates were released. The first 5-year estimates will be released in 2010.

In 2008, there was also some major changes in the survey, including data about people with disabilities. Data users should pay close attention to the ACS guidelines for how to use the data and which data can be compared to prior years.

Alfredo Navarro, Assistant Division Chief, ACS Statistical Studies, U.S. Census Bureau, spoke next. He provided more technical information on the ACS (his presentation should also be online shortly.) He recommended a series of publications on how to use the ACS, including a new design and methodology report due out in March.

After this overview, Jim Walker, Executive Director of the Central Texas Indicators Project (and a board member of the Community Indicators Consortium introduced the panel charged with discussing the challenges that arise as a result of the Census changes and how community leaders can prepare for those changes. Panelists included:

• Susan Schechter, Chief, ACS Office
• Alfredo Navarro, Assistant Division Chief, ACS Statistical Studies
• Robert Kominski, Assistant Division Chief, Social Characteristics Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, Census
• Nicole Scanniello, Coordinator, ACS Organization
• Karl Eschbach, Texas State Demographer and Director of the Texas State Data Center
• Ryan Robinson, Demographer, City of Austin
• Mark Salling, Research Director, The Center for Community Solutions, Cleveland, Ohio
• Sarah Eckhardt, Travis County Commissioner

The panelists raised some of the challenges faced by data users in transitioning to the new data products. The Census data was predictable and understandable, and had clear information available for small areas. While data users understood there was a margin of error with the information, the margin of error was small and relatively constant, and was effectively ignored by policy makers. It was a single source that could be used by researchers and legislators and communities.

Now there are multiple data products, and data users have choices on which data set to use (if they are looking at a geography of over 65,000 or even over 20,000 population -- under 20,000 has no choices). Choices can bring confusion. The margins of error are necessarily bigger. The one, three, and five-year estimates don't match in a given year (they shouldn't, after all, unless the trend lines were static, but that isn't always intuitive.)

Small-area data and subgroup data are less reliable than in the past, because the sample sizes are smaller. Even five-year estimates will only have a sample size of 11 percent of the housing units, lower than the 16 percent from the Census long form. Other knowledge is often needed to interpret the data.

But there are benefits to the new system, not all of them obvious or just related to timeliness. Instead of temporary census workers distributing the long form and following up, a professional staff of researchers does the work full-time. The reduction in non-sampling errors makes up for the reduced-sampling margin of error. (My translation: the Census long form had bad data in it that we all ignored because it was all we had. Having people collect the data who know what they're doing is a Very Good Thing.) My favorite quote from the session, which I will leave unattributed, was this: "We had census tracts with zero answers to some of the questions on population characteristics, so we imputed the data. "Imputed" means we made it up." (Hasty statement from Someone In Charge: "The Census doesn't say that. The Census has a scientific methodology for careful imputations.")

The ACS has a 97 percent response rate, which is pretty good. We were cautioned, however, not to try to compare 3-year estimates in one area to 1-year estimates in another -- the same level of data should be used consistently. We were also reminded that care should be used in comparing three-year or five-year estimates to the following year's three-year estimates (or five-year.) The difference between the 2005-07 and 2006-08 estimates isn't the change from 2007 to 2008; it's the change between 2005 and 2008.

All in all, a surprisingly enjoyable and incredibly informative session. You should have been there.

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NAPC Conference: Keepin' It Weird in Austin, Texas

I'm in Austin, Texas today for the 2009 Conference of the National Association of Planning Councils (NAPC). I'm looking forward to some pretty exciting sessions, and will be sharing some tidbits here as the conference goes along.

I've mentioned NAPC before, but here's a couple of things you ought to know about the organization:

• Planning councils are in to measuring community indicators in a big way. The Reno conference that launched the Community Indicators Consortium was co-sponsored by NAPC, and they have held joint conferences with CIC to help share the importance of measuring trends at the local level.
• Planning councils are action-oriented kinds of organizations. They use information to inform policy, shape decision-making, implement programs, and make life better for people in the communities they serve.
• Planning councils are struggling. People (governments, philanthropic organizations, individuals) like to fund direct service. Big-picture stuff is a harder sell -- but it's the big picture that makes the direct service work work. Figuring out what needs doing, what's working, what's not working, and where the resources need to be targeted is even more critical in times of resource scarcity.

OK, I'm off my soapbox now. If you're working for a planning council, good for you. If not, go support your local planning council. And if your community no longer has one -- if budget crunches and active neglect has forced the planning council to close its doors or morph into just a direct service organization -- now would be a really good time to try to bring it back.

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State of the USA and 1,000 Points of Data

The State of the USA has responded to the New York Times editorial calling for a national indicator program. That's a good thing, because I'm a big fan of the work they've been doing, and I'm getting pretty excited about their official launch, scheduled for some time this fall.

Chris Hoenig, President and CEO of The State of the USA, writes:

In response to a growing call for new ways to achieve shared understanding, increased transparency and improved accountability, a new dialogue is unfolding among Americans and in the media about how to measure the performance and progress of our society. The State of the USA’s mission is to help Americans better assess the progress of the country. We aim to provide key national indicators on the Web as a public service, bearing on major issues ranging from health and the economy, to education and the environment. In the next few months, we will begin by publishing data on key national health indicators, followed by a steady progression of information on other issues. This is a daunting task, which will take some time to accomplish. A working partnership between the public and private sectors will be central to accomplishing this mission.

As a private, non-profit organization dedicated to free information dissemination in the public interest, we rely in particular on working with the people and the products of the U.S. federal statistical system. Without them, we and thousands of other institutions like ours would be unable to make our contributions to better informing the American people. Our role as a private institution allows us to perform an important function that government cannot: combining in one place both public (i.e., official) statistics from federal sources as well as the best quality data from other organizations – commercial, state or international. It is also possible for us to be more selective in our choices of measures that are especially important for Americans to focus on. To do this in a responsible fashion, we rely on an editorial process with a variety of inputs – from polling research and public workshops run by America Speaks and Westat, to expert advice from institutions such as the National Academies. (The National Academies is the umbrella organization for the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine.)

Conversely, there are vital functions that public institutions, like the Federal government, have a unique ability to provide to help Americans assess the progress of the nation. These go beyond the tremendous service of managing the nation’s multi-billion dollar statistical system – the lifeblood of so many decisions in our democracy. From the moment of the State of the USA’s founding, we have encouraged the federal government to create a key national indicator system to ensure that Americans get even better access to valuable data on the changing nature of American society. (The State of the USA engages in limited advocacy on behalf of an independent key national indicator system, which is allowed under the Internal Revenue Service code and governed according to the respective policies of its funders.) Such a system has been recommended to Congress by the GAO, and recent media coverage has highlighted growing bipartisan support for the Key National Indicators Act – a bill to be introduced by Senators Edward M. Kennedy and Michael Enzi. This legislation would establish a bi-partisan commission to create such a system. The commission would then charge the prestigious National Academies with the task of creating and managing the system.

Ever since its founding, America’s democracy has grown and strengthened when the best of the public and private sectors are brought out in appropriately constructed partnerships. As we have also seen recently, it can weaken when these partnerships are neglected or poorly constructed. The historical lesson is not to avoid them or ignore them, but to design and manage them well. It is our greatest hope that, should the Key National Indicators Act be enacted into law, we and many other public and private organizations can make contributions to such a partnership in the interest of the American people and future generations.

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My List of Blogs

Some of you may have noticed the list of blogs on the left-hand side of the page. These are some of the blogs that I think might be of some interest to community indicators practitioners.

As we were going through the latest updating of this site, the blog list was accidentally deleted. I've added several of the blogs on to the list, but I know I'm missing quite a few.

If you would like your own blog linked in, or know another blog you like to follow that the rest of the folks here ought to know about, please let me know and we'll add it to the list.

Thanks!

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Data360 Responds to NYTimes Op-Ed

This is fun -- a challenge to the Duberstein editorial, some self-promotion, and a throwdown challenge to the State of the USA project. Perhaps some controversy in the field will help draw attention to it -- it's embarrassing that the editorial could have been written without at least acknowledging the work already occurring on the subject.

From Tom Paper:

Dear Editor,

Ken Duberstein wrote in an opinion piece titled “1,000 Points of Data” on February 23^rd that “What we need now is a Web-based system for measuring our changing society with key national indicators — in a free, public, easy-to-use form.”

Such a system already exists in a site called Data360 (see www.data360.org). In business, successful companies build operating reports that are published internally, usually on a monthly basis, that explain very clearly (and visually) the state of the world for that business. When I started my consulting practice, five years ago, I asked myself, “where is my business report for the state of the world?” The answer was that insightful and succinct reports about the state of the world are not publicly available (although if I was a client of Goldman, Sachs I could get an insightful report on almost any subject, but, alas, I was not a client). And so I went about building a tool that would be web-based, free and tell stories graphically with data that left the reader feeling more certain about the state of the world. Four years later, that tool is Data360, a free, public, open-source, easy-to-use and objective tool for reporting on what’s so in the world. Steven Levitt positively reviewed our site in May of 2007, as have many others.

There are other sites today helping to unlock the data in our world, including Swivel and Many-Eyes, although anyone can load data onto these sites and so the certitude of the data presented is not always known. There are also quasi-government sites like State of the USA that they are dauntingly large, not fully launched and not customer-focused. What is really needed is a site like Wikipedia, that can grow organically and respond to the interests of readers. I gave a talk last June at the Community Indicators Conference in Washington, DC, in which I pointed out that the trend towards data democratization is happening, but for it to fully take hold, there are some key principles that must be followed, the most important of which are:

1.Integrity. Data presented graphically must have integrity. Seems simple, but as Mark Twain once said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

2.Dynamic. The data must be updated on a regular basis so that it is current. Business people will see the exact same report every month, updated for current data, and, because of that repetition, the thing that they begin to notice is how things are changing.

3.Interpreted. The data must be interpreted. This is the most challenging principle, because data is like a haystack. It’s easy to present a lot, but hard to present just what is important. The best tool will make an interpretation that is distilling AND fair.

Ken Duberstein is correct: a national indicator system is needed; however, an international indicator system is also needed, as well as city indicator system and a state indicator system, not to mention an indicator system for issues, like global warming and education. Data360 is already partnering with innovative organizations like California Forward to unlock California’s data and Applied Survey Research to unlock and empower citizens with dashboards in literally thousands of communities around the globe. Our biggest challenge, as a non-profit, is finding both the resources and the people to populate and manage the data on our site. However, I know we will overcome these challenges and I felt it was important to let readers know that the “web-based system” that Mr. Duberstein mentions is already built.

Sincerely,

Tom Paper

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Minor Blog Changes

I was unhappy with the commenting software we were using on the blog, and so we're now using the Blogger commenting system.

In order for this to happen, we had to lose all the comments from previous posts.

Hopefully, the new system will be easier to use, and you'll feel comfortable adding your thoughts to the information we share.

Thanks for your patience as we upgrade this blog!

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NYTimes Calls For National Indicator Set

Have you seen the editorial today in the New York Times? Kenneth Duberstein writes about the State of the Union address:

But given today’s challenges and the rapid pace of change, a yearly formal address is no longer sufficient to measure the true state of our Union. To recapture the spirit of the founders — and to fulfill President Obama’s own promise to provide greater accountability in Washington — another tool is needed, one that enables all Americans to gauge whether we are making progress as a nation.

What we need now is a Web-based system for measuring our changing society with key national indicators — in a free, public, easy-to-use form.

That sounds like a pretty good idea, doesn't it? It's such a great idea that "Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Michael Enzi, Republican of Wyoming, plan to soon introduce a bill that would allocate about $7.5 million a year for such a comprehensive database of key national indicators, and the idea already has wide bipartisan support. The data, selected by the National Academy of Sciences, would come from public and private sources of information on issues like education, the environment, the economy, energy use, housing, health care and the state of our roads and other public works."

Which would be fantastic -- except Congress already did this. Through the GAO and the National Academies of Science. And they spun it off, and it's now called the State of the USA project. And it's scheduled to be done and online by Fall 2009.

Here's more:

The State of the USA, Inc. (SUSA) is a new nonprofit organization that will assemble high-quality measures and data that can be used to assess the progress of the United States; it will display those measures—as a public service—on its website. SUSA will serve nongovernmental organizations, the media, policy makers, business leaders, foundations, scientists, educators and citizens by providing valuable information so all Americans can educate themselves about the progress of the United States.

With advice from the National Academies, SUSA is assembling a set of key national indicators to measure specific conditions or trends in this country. Data will be drawn from this country’s most respected public and private statistical sources (e.g., the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis) and will help the public track the nation’s progress on a wide variety of issues at many demographic and geographic levels, to the extent such data are available.

So what's up with the editorial? The legislation? Any ideas?

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It's All Data: Twittering the Super Bowl

Just in case you missed it, the New York Times created a time-series twitter map of the U.S. during the Super Bowl, mapping the most popular words used, by location.

You need to check it out -- especially click on the "ads" button and play it through, and the "emoticons" button.

Two quick lessons:

1. Everything is data.
2. Data display technology rocks. What excuse do we have for still using bar charts?

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Webinar: Community Health Status Indicators

April 16, 2009
Community Health Status Indicators: Employing a New Tool for Assessments and Planning

Jennifer Stanley, MA Director, Public Health Systems Research Public Health Foundation Washington, DC

Norma Kanarek, PhD Executive Director, CRF at Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Baltimore, MD

This webinar will showcase and provide a tour of the newly released Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI) containing individualized reports for more than 3,000 counties in the United States. The CHSI online tool provides local and state public health agencies, hospitals, community health centers, community organizations, policymakers, and researchers with unprecedented access to comprehensive and nationally comparable health data. The goal of CHSI is to provide easy-to-understand reports that convey the breadth of public and community health issues, and the uniqueness of local health needs and community assets. It is intended to support local health improvement and needs assessment with data assembled from multiple sources.

County reports present demographics, summary measures of health, preventive services use, estimates of vulnerable populations, birth and death measures, risk factors for premature death, indicators of environmental factors, and health care availability. Plus, every county is matched with peer jurisdictions for comparative analysis and benchmarking of health indicators with similar communities. (The CHSI Working Group includes: the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the Public Health Foundation (PHF), and faculty from Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is a funder of the current CHSI dissemination efforts.)

Learning Objectives:

• Identify health status indicators that are available at the county level in the CHSI website
• Identify where to find the reports, peer counties, and downloadable database
• Identify and discuss ways in which this tool can be employed to support needs assessment, priority-setting, and community health action planning

Edited to add: I forgot where to tell you to sign up! Go here for more information.

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PolicyMap Student Update

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jeff Rechler

215-564-3200 x118

jrechler@gobraithwaite.com

PolicyMap Launches Affordable E-Resource for Students

Online Mapping Tool Lets University Students Utilize

Professional-Grade Data at an Accessible Student Rate

(Philadelphia) February 11, 2009 – TRF’s PolicyMap.com today announced that it is opening up its vast wealth of online market and demographic data to university students at a deeply discounted rate. Students now have easy, affordable access to the same professional-grade data utilized by thousands of policymakers and professionals across the nation. The electronic resource is intended to aid scholarly research and support class discussions through the application of credible data that was previously scattered across the web or unavailable for students.

University students can utilize TRF’s PolicyMap.com for quick access to more than 4,000 data indicators related to demographics, real estate markets, education, employment, money and income, crime, energy, and public investments. These indicators are aggregated from a variety of sources including U.S. Census, Claritas, FBI, IRS, the Postal Service, and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.

“Students can now support their coursework not just through data, but with compelling visual maps, charts, tables, and reports,” said Maggie McCullough, Director of TRF’s PolicyMap.com. “The full range of data and GIS functionality on TRF’s PolicyMap.com is available to students at just $35 per semester, a fraction of the cost to standard subscribers. “ For details, students and professors who wish to subscribe can visit http://blog.policymap.com or call 1-866-923-MAPS.

More than 150,000 users have accessed TRF’s PolicyMap.com since its launch in 2008. To date, its varied subscribers include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve, state agencies including the New Jersey Housing Mortgage Finance Agency, private entities like Comcast, as well as nonprofit community organizations nationwide.

About PolicyMap

PolicyMap is an online mapping tool that makes it quick and easy to gather and analyze geocentric information. PolicyMap is a service of The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), a not-for-profit leader in the financing of neighborhood revitalization. TRF developed PolicyMap to empower decision makers with better access to credible market and demographic data. To utilize PolicyMap, visit www.policymap.com. To learn more about TRF, visit www.trfund.com.

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OECD Training Course Announced

Here's an update from the OECD:

Dear colleague,

I am pleased to announce that the OECD, in conjunction with the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) have developed a training course on "Statistics, Knowledge and Policy: Understanding Societal Change", to be held in Ottawa (Canada) on 11-15 May 2009.

The course has been designed to provide assistance to those wanting to understand the progress of their societies and promote evidence-based debate and policy making. It will be of interest to statisticians, economists, policy makers, and people from the private and civil society sectors and we are targeting people with at least 5 years’ work experience.

Organised as a part of the Global Project on "Measuring the Progress of Societies" (see http://www.oecd.org/pages/0,3417,en_40033426_40033828_1_1_1_1_1,00.html), the course will focus on the importance of statistics for democracy and democratic decision-making; measures of progress that go "beyond GDP"; tools to transform statistics into knowledge; and evidence, civic engagement and policy making.

The maximum number of participants is 25 and the deadline for registration is 31 March 2009. The cost of all training, accommodation and lunches will be 2,000 Euros (or 1,500 Euros for the course without accommodation). For more details see http://www.oecd.org/document/47/0,3343,en_40033426_40037426_41341551_1_1_1_1,00.html

If you need more information, please do not hesitate to contact:

Barbara Iasiello (Barbara.iasiello@oecd.org)

Yours sincerely,

The Global Project Team

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Job Opening: GIS Analyst

MAPC’s Data Services group has an opening for a GIS Analyst/Geodatabase Specialist. The Data Services Group seeks to utilize information and create technology tools that help not only inform Metro Boston’s planning and public policy, but also drive social change.

GIS Analyst / Geodatabase Specialist

Position definition
The Metropolitan Area Planning Council seeks a GIS Analyst for the Data Services Group. The GIS Analyst will collect and organize geographic data, conduct analysis, and prepare maps for presentation in print and electronic formats. This is an opportunity to work in a dynamic, multidisciplinary environment focused on using data and analysis to support regional planning and policymaking.

Primary Responsibilities

• Perform work related to GIS data, mapping, analysis, and technical support for MAPC regional planning projects and initiatives.
• Provide on-going support and maintenance of the regional geo-spatial data library
• Assist with the installation of software and hardware, setup, and troubleshooting
• Establish a method for cataloging, storing, and archiving existing data sets in a central database
• Research and obtain updates to our current data sets as they are released
• Collect and maintain project data from other units within MAPC
• Research and identify new data sources that will expand our service capacity
• Conduct statistical analysis and prepare summary reports from data sets
• Maintain and update existing Community Viz model and adapt for local applications
• Build relationships with other agencies and allied organizations
• Respond to email and telephone data inquiries from municipalities and allied organizations
• Assist Data Services Group staff in presentation of reports and other information, both oral and written
• Perform other duties as necessary

Qualifications
The following are required qualifications for the position:

• A bachelor’s degree in planning, geography, geographic information systems, public health, economics, computer sciences, or a related field and at least three years experience in GIS
• High level of cartographic experience
• Experience with creation and management of geodatabases.
• A high proficiency with ESRI software, including ArcGIS, ArcSDE, ArcIMS, and ArcGIS-Server
• Experience with XML, SQL, Microsoft Office and in particular MS Access
• Experience working with diverse data sets from federal, state, and local agencies.
• Knowledge of spatial statistics
• Demonstrated innovative, strategic and analytical capabilities, self-motivation and goal-oriented approach
• Ability to communicate effectively with internal staff and the general public (oral and written)

The following are preferred qualifications for the position:

• Master’s degree in planning, geography, geographic information systems, public health, economics, computer sciences, or related field
• Experience in application programming and development or strong aptitude in using VBA, .NET, XML, ArcXML, ArcObject, Java Script, CSS, and HTML
• Experience with graphic design software such as Adobe PhotoShop, and IT experience a plus
• Experience with PostgreSQL, MySQL, and open source GIS and Internet mapping
• Experience with scenarios modeling (Community Viz), visualization, and 3-D modeling.
• Experience with data replication and archiving

Compensation and Benefits
Salary range from $44,000 to $49,000 DOQ. Excellent state employee benefits package.

Position open until filled. Review of applications will begin on February 15th, 2008.
Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, resume and three references. MAPC is an EOE/ AA employer.

ABOUT THE DATA SERVICES GROUP
The MAPC Data Services Group conducts the following activities:
• Maintain a warehouse of geospatial and tabular data about Metro Boston and continually acquire or develop new datasets.
• Provide data analysis, mapping, policy analysis, and modeling support to all other departments within the agency.
• Provide basic analytical services and data products to municipalities and allied organizations, both “on demand” and through on-line resources.
• Provide training, technical assistance, and coordination to support municipal use of GIS, other data applications, and other technology.
• Undertake customized research projects or studies for external clients.
• Conduct independent research on emerging planning issues of regional significance to educate the public, private, and non-profit sectors on the implications of policy and regional trends.
Over the past few years the Data Services Group has:
• Developed the Metro Boston Data Common, an on-line web mapper and data viewer (in partnership with The Boston Foundation).
• Prepared demographic, employment, and land use projections for 164 municipalities in Metro Boston to support regional transportation planning.
• Developed a comprehensive model of regional growth and development to support regional planning and policy development.
• Pioneered the use of decision support tools such as Community Viz modeling, scenario visualization, and wireless keypads.
• Prepared interactive maps of critical infrastructure and facilities to support emergency response, evacuation planning, and pre-disaster mitigation.
• Partnered with community-based organizations to launch a “Human Development Overlay” project designed to link residents with health, social, business, and other assistance in a rapidly developing neighborhood of Boston.

HOW TO APPLY
Send all application materials to: (Email responses strongly preferred. Only applications with cover letters will be reviewed)

Thomas E. Hauenstein
Manager of Human Resources
MAPC
60 Temple Place, 6th floor
Boston, MA 02111
(617) 451-2770, ext. 2072
(617) 482-7185 FAX
THauenstein@mapc.org
Posted 2/2/09.

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Spartanburg, Indicators Reports, and Community Engagement

I like how the Spartanburg community came together to talk about the challenges raised in their new community indicators report. There's a video available at the site (I couldn't get this one to embed properly), but you may want to take a look at it.

The meeting raises the challenge all indicator projects must face: how do you move from reporting the problems to solving them? We know providing the data alone is insufficient to solving the problem (though may times it serves as a necessary precondition for action). We also know that, while indicators reports sometimes catalyze community action by raising the key issues of the community, more often than not the report itself highlights the problem, sparks a little conversation, and then (if left alone) people move on.

At the same time, no one organization can solve all the community's problems. We know that. But when we report on all the community's problems, and people ask us what we're going to do to fix them, we can inadvertently create expectations of problem ownership (especially if no one else is talking about the problem or is stepping forward to lead community action.)

So what do we do about it? Some thoughts follow:

I've suggested before that community indicators are one piece in an overall model for community improvement. I'll likely say it a few more times.

Right now, though, what I want to focus in on is the need for a credible, neutral source in the community that can take a bigger-picture view of the aspects of a community that contribute to good living/high quality of life/healthy/sustainable community (whatever your framework for describing what's important about where you life.)

Lots of people and organizations are working on issues. For each of these, the most important issue is the one they are facing today. Their voices, especially in a time of relative resource scarcity, keep getting louder as they fight for a place in community priorities and attention. Some people are more effective at being heard than others. Some become too effective in getting their message out until it becomes overkill and people stop listening -- there are only so many times you can hear that the sky is falling before you start resenting the calls for action. (Just check out the latest poll numbers on global warming -- the intensity and omnipresence of the message is spurring a backlash, and the weather isn't helping.)

In a worst-case scenario, people and organizations get so tied to a message that others actively shut out content and replace it with caricature. (Take PETA, for example -- they've done a pretty good job of alienating people from hearing a set of important ethical messages, in my opinion. Somewhere along the way they stopped sharing information and started looking like desperate folks who will do anything to get attention. Can anyone with a straight face tell me that their banned Superbowl ad helped advance community discussion? Or when exploiting women became OK if it was in the cause of not exploiting animals? OK, I'll stop ranting.)

The strength of a community indicators report is the ability, again in my opinion, to rise above the issue-specific turf wars and get people to see the community through a wider lens. This helps issues get framed as parts of overall systems. It demonstrates interrelatedness of problems. It tears down silos. It encourages collaborative action.

The temptation is to dive in on a particular issue and begin leading the charge. On the plus side, this issue may need a champion, and the community is looking at you already and wants to know what you are going to do about it. You can galvanize the community, you can with intentionality forge those coalitions. You can be the voice of the community and lead action to make things better!

The negative side to that is twofold. First, You dove into the pool. You became just another advocacy organization. From now on, your report will be viewed differently -- no longer above the fray, you're now talking about how everything relates with your issue. It changes how you are seen, and how your report is perceived.

Second, you've used your community capital on that issue. It will be twice as hard to try to tackle another issue. You're in the pool already, so can't dive in as the lifeguard to rescue another community problem with quite as much ease, especially since that problem is likely still hanging on to you for dear life.

Third, when you jumped in, others were free to stay out. They could go on with their lives, secure in the knowledge that you were taking care of the problem. You and they lost the opportunity to see who else could be a lifesaver. You took the pressure off the community and put it on yourself.

The good news is that a strong model of community improvement can keep you (and your community) afloat, even in tough times. I'll talk more about that model in another post. In the meantime, congratulations to Spartanburg (and to all the rest of you out there) for keeping those community conversations alive. The problems out there are too big for just one organization, even a really cool one that knows how to do indicators.

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Statistically Significant Other?

I got a chuckle out of this comic strip. Maybe you will too.

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Children in Immigrant Families

The Annie E. Casey Foundation has new data on children in immigrant families.

You'll want to look at the data sets and see what they tell you about your community. From their newsletter:

Children in immigrant families now represent 22 percent of all U.S. children and youth under 18 and 26 percent of all children living in poverty. Learn more about immigrant children and families in the KIDS COUNT Data Center, which offers the latest national, state, and city-level data on more than 100 measures of child well-being, including:

• Total number of children living in immigrant families in the United States
• Children in immigrant families living below the poverty threshold
• Immigrant children living in low-income working families
• Children in immigrant families in which a parent has difficulty speaking English

Visit the Data Center to create your own map, chart, or graph — or add an interactive map to your own website:

Visit the KIDS COUNT Data Center to make your own map.

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Call for Chapters: Community Quality-of-Life Indicators: Best Practices V

Call for Chapters

Special Volume on

Community Quality-of-Life Indicators: Best Practices V

Published by Springer in the new

Best Practices in Quality-of-Life Research Book Series

Volume Focus: This volume will publish best practices of community quality-of-life indicators projects. The first volume was published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2004 (edited by M. Joseph Sirgy, Don Rahtz, and Dong-Jin Lee). The second volume was published by Springer in 2006 (edited by M. Joseph Sirgy, Don Rahtz, and David Swain). The third and fourth volumes were published by Springer (visit www.springer.com and type “Community Quality-of-Life Indicators” in the Search window) and the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (both edited by M. Joseph Sirgy, Rhonda Phillips, and Don Rahtz).

For the fifth volume, we are seeking excellent case studies that can be used by community planners, policy makers and others as good examples or “prototypes” of community quality-of-life indicator projects. Papers dealing with theoretical issues in planning, developing, and using community quality-of-life indicators are not suitable for this volume. Instead, they should be sent for review and possible publication in Social Indicators Research (SIR) or Applied Research in Quality-of-Life (ARQOL). The fifth volume will be published in the new book series, Best Practices in Quality-of-Life Research. The book series editor is Dr. Dave Webb of the University of Western Australia..

Volume Editors: M. Joseph Sirgy (Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, USA), Rhonda Phillips (State University of New York-Plattsburgh, USA), and Don Rahtz (College of William and Mary, USA)

Special Invitation: Please consider submitting your idea for a chapter as a paper for the IX Conference of the International Society of Quality of Life Studies, Florence Italy, July 19-23, 2009. This will give us a chance to “see the project in action” and help us make a decision concerning its suitability for the volume.  See the conference website at http://www.isqols2009.istitutodeglinnocenti.it/  Submit your abstract to any of the tracks related to community well-being.

Submission Deadline: August 31st, 2009

Submit to: M. Joseph Sirgy, Department of Marketing, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0236, USA. Tel: 540.231.5110. Fax: 540.231.3076. E-mail: sirgy@vt.edu

Submission Guidelines:

• The paper should be typed in either Arial or Times Roman, font size 10-12 with a margin of 1 inch on all sides.

• The paper should be typed either 1½ or double-spaced.

• Paper length should not exceed 30 pages in total including references, tables, and figures.

• Reference style: American Psychological Association (APA) style is preferred.

• E-mail attachment is the preferred mode of submission. Submit paper electronically to sirgy@vt.edu.

• All submissions should be original and not previously published. The submitted paper should not be submitted simultaneously to other publication outlets.

Guidelines for Paper Selection and Final Manuscript Preparation:

• Each paper will be subjected to a review by 2-3 referees who are experts in the field.

• The editors in consultation with the referees will make the final decision concerning acceptance or rejection.

• Notification of acceptance or rejection will be sent out by the end of September 2009.

• It is very likely that the editors will request changes to the accepted papers based on the reviewers’ suggestions. These changes should be completed by the end of November 2009.

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National Accounts of Well-being

Here's a note from our friends at the new economics foundation:

National Accounts of Well-being: bringing real wealth onto the balance sheet

We are pleased to forward a copy of our latest report, National Accounts of Well-being: bringing real wealth onto the balance sheet, released by the centre for well-being at nef (the new economics foundation) on Saturday 24 January 2009.

The report reveals that the UK fares poorly in comparison to a range of European nations and presents some key challenges for policy-makers. On the two headline indicators within the framework devised by nef, the UK ranks only 13th for personal well-being and 15th for social well-being, out of 22 European nations surveyed. The findings also show that people in the UK aged 16-24 report the lowest level of trust and belonging – a key element of social well-being – anywhere in Europe. We believe this is due to a complex web of interrelated factors in part created by an emphasis on maximising economic growth to the exclusion of other concerns.

A growing range of academics, commentators and policy-makers have been increasingly calling for new measures of progress; National Accounts of Well-being are the first comprehensive attempt to make this a reality. The report and website, www.nationalaccountsofwellbeing.org were compiled using data collected in the European Social Survey, which carried out over 40,000 interviews with people across 22 nations and provides the most comprehensive international analyses of well-being ever produced.

nef is calling for National Accounts of Well-being to be adopted by government as a powerful tool to significantly enhance the effectiveness of public policy-making and to provide a new way of assessing societal progress. The current period of economic, social and environmental uncertainty has thrown into sharp relief the inadequacies of GDP as a meaningful measure of the progress of nations and the well-being of citizens. Where the emphasis on growth-based indicators has led to a narrow measure of human welfare and takes no account of how fairly resources are distributed, or the social and environmental damage caused by a myopic focus on growth alone, introducing National Accounts of Well-being would provide a timely and effective way to refocus policy-making on the things that really matter – delivering a better quality of life for all.

We hope you enjoy reading the report, and would welcome your comments.

Yours sincerely,

Corrina Cordon
nef Public Affairs Manager

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