Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

It is crucial for researchers to create impactful products that inspire change and empower communities. To achieve this goal, we have produced two tools for which we selected and compiled sets of community indicators in order to present them in easily digestible formats. This selection was based on comprehensive discussions with government agencies and a three-pronged approach that emphasized indicators of ‘quality’, ‘availability’, and ‘meaningfulness’.

Quality indicators are those which we can (1) calculate and highlight the statistical reliability of indicator values; and (2) source the data from trusted New York City agencies and/or other government datasets.

Availability stipulates that indicators (1) can be made publicly available; (2) receive regular updates, ideally annually; and (3) are available at the meaningful and familiar geographical level for local communities, such as Neighborhood Tabulation Areas (NTAs), or that can be converted to these geographical levels. NTAs are geographical units specific to New York City and were created to analyze and project populations at a small area level.

Meaningfulness stipulates that indicators (1) help understand the needs and strengths of each neighborhood; (2) help strategic planning for communities, improving access to quality resources and opportunities; and (3) unearth the hidden assets in each community.

In this poster, we present two place-based data tools that utilize this three-pronged approach and that were created to inspire change and empower the communities of NYC.

The first data tool is a set of Community Partnership Program (CPP) Profiles. These place-based profiles are focused on a Two-Generation approach, which emphasizes the transfer of both vulnerabilities and assets from one generation to the next. They provide a powerful and holistic perspective to help communities create change through informed strategies. These profiles were initially developed for the NYC Administration for Children’s Services’ Community Partnership Program. CPPs were designed to coordinate community-based supports for children and families involved in the child welfare system. Beginning in 2016, CPPs began including primary prevention as a core component and recognized the need for data and stakeholder-driven strategic planning. The CPP profiles are currently serving as key data tools for stakeholders.

The second data tool is Well-Being Index, a holistic approach that combines numerous datasets, national and local, to build a straightforward framework that can be used to compare NYC communities within various categories as well as over time. This tool provides one composite score for the whole set of selected indicators at the NTA level as well as composite scores for six major domains: (1) Education; (2) Health and Well-Being; (3) Housing; (4) Economic Security and Mobility; (5) Core Infrastructure and Services; and (6) Personal & Community Safety. Each category includes its related indicators and statistical and spatial methods were employed to produce indicators at the NTA level.