January 2019 Newsletter: New Hartford Data Platform, Public Data & the Government Shutdown, and We Want to Hear from You!

January 18, 2019

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Hartford Data Platform

The visualization above shows a concentration of

poor mental health

reported in Hartford's

Northeast

neighborhood and a corresponding concentration in the

South End

neighborhoods of

Frog Hollow

and

Barry Square

, though the concentrations in the southern portion of the city are more geographically dispersed.

In December 2018, the Connecticut Data Collaborative released our

Health in Hartford's Neighborhoods

data story, which examined the relationship between housing in health in the city.

To dive deeper at the census-tract level, CTData has created

The Neighborhood Data Explorer

. This interactive platform allows users to sort data based on health, housing, demographics, and economy to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the key factors that impact Hartford residents.

Explore the platform

CTData Academy

Data Storytelling on Wednesday, 1/30 

Our assistant director, Rachel Leventhal-Weiner, attended Tapestry this past November, a conference dedicated to digital data storytelling. Check out CTData's

Data Storytelling

workshop on

Wednesday, 1/30

to hear some of the strategies she gleaned from the event, as well as the methods she utilizes for data storytelling.

Upcoming CTData Academy events.

  • January 30th: Data Storytelling in Hartford, 10:00 am-12:00 pm. Fee is $25. In this workshop, we bring together best practices in data reporting and data visualization, as we guide participants through several exercises to learn how to create effective data stories. Participants will benefit most if they have engaged with our introductory workshop, Data Basics. We ask that participants bring their own laptops to be able to practice and engage in some of the activities.

  • February 19:Open Data Call, 3:00 pm-4:00 pm

Details & registration

How Can We Improve Our Services for You?

Did you participate in any of our 

workshops or calls in 2018

?

If so, we'd like to hear your feedback and suggestions, what you found helpful, and what ideas you'd have to make our events more useful. Please take 5-10 minutes and complete this

survey

to share your perspective with us!

Take the survey

Census Information

Public Data: Another Tragedy of the Government Shutdown

The impact of the government shutdown, the longest in history and entering its 27th day (as of Friday, 1/18), is extensive—from

food safety worries

to

tax return concerns

to many individuals and families

struggling without paychecks

. An often overlooked government function that has ceased operating in many cases is the collection and dissemination of public data.  How will the shutdown affect the government’s efforts?

Read more on our blog

Op-Ed: Why We All Need to Be Counted in Connecticut

The Hartford Courant published an op-ed

written by our executive director, Michelle Riordan-Nold, about the importance of the 2020 Census for the state of Connecticut. In case you missed it, we’ve published the article on our

blog

, and you can read some of it below.

“April 1, 2020 might seem like a long time away. But there is work to do before then if Connecticut residents are to be properly counted in the 2020 Census on that date, and there’s a lot riding on it."Fortunately, there’s also a lot Connecticut residents can do to help."An under-reported count of residents is more than a math mix-up. It means new obstacles for local governments, businesses and community groups. It means less representation in Congress to advocate and fight for what matters to residents of Connecticut. It means losing federal funding for some of our state’s most important programs."

Read more on our blog

Federal Judge Blocks Addition of Census 2020 Citizenship Question 

At CTData's

Census 2020 Kickoff

, one of the major topics of discussion was the potential inclusion of a

citizenship question

to the census form.

This past Tuesday, Judge Jesse M. Furman in New York ruled that the question should not be included in Census 2020.

In an article for the Hartford Courant

, CTData provided some insight on the potential effects of adding the question using available ACS data on federal funding received by the state. Each individual counted on the Census amounts to $2,200 per person in federal aid:

"The number of naturalized citizens and noncitizens [in Connecticut] each is about 250,000 

. . . 

with a margin of error of plus or minus 5,619. Multiplying $2,200 by 250,000 yields $550 million, an estimate of funding that would have been vulnerable to cuts if a smaller population, discounting noncitizens, was recorded in the census."

While these are estimates, the consequence of a citizenship question is clear: an inaccurate count could mean less federal dollars for essential programs that are critical to Connecticut residents.

Read more from the Courant

New and Updated Data onctdata.org

We've been busy updating data! See below for a list of what we've added. 

Around the State and In the News

New Data Inventories

Connecticut Open Data

recently released the agency high-value data inventories, submitted in accordance with

Public Act 18-175

. Users can filter datasets on authority, category, view type, tag, and federated domain. Data from the Office of Early Childhood and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services are not yet available.

Explore datasets

Connecticut Finalizes its First State Data Plan

We are excited to announce that Connecticut now has its first ever

State Data Plan

. The plan advanced through three phases and also incorporates feedback from both the public as well as agencies. This is a monumental achievement for Connecticut, and we would like to thank all of those who participated in the process.

View the plan

Data Job Postings by our Partners

  • Community Research Alliance: Part-Time Coordinator

Apply here

CTData NewsMorgan Finn