This year, there have been significant proposed federal funding cuts to Medicaid and other assistance programs. Recent policy shifts are reshaping access to health care, nutrition supports and other services. Young children (ages 0 to 3), one of the most vulnerable populations, will be affected by these changes.
To better understand the landscape of Medicaid in Connecticut for young children, we analyzed several key measures from the Connecticut Department of Social Services Medicaid data, such as enrollment and developmental screenings, along with participation in other services such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC).
In response to the federal data system going black in January of this year, we at CTData have been partnering with local organizations to bring people together across the state to share information about what we know about changes to federal and state data, and also to help folks connect locally around data and strategies they can use to best serve their region. On October 30, 2025, we partnered with Norwalk ACTS to bring this event to Norwalk. This post includes highlights from this session, but can’t do justice to the excellent presentations and conversations. Read this post to find many ways you can stay informed and take action!
If you're a Connecticut resident, you have likely heard of Willimantic. But did you know that Willimantic isn't officially a "Town" but is part of the "Town" of Windham? This and other idiosyncrasies may make finding data about a place you're interested tricky. In this webinar you’ll learn how the Census Bureau categorizes different kinds of places in Connecticut, and shows you how to access these places through data.census.gov, the Census Bureau's data portal.
In July, we held a session discussing data visualization design principles centered around equity and accessibility. We explored how our design decisions for data visualizations could potentially exclude parts of our audiences, shaping who can gain insights from the data and who isn't. We also examined what accessibility means, best practices for inclusive design, and heard from several CTData staff members who have made adjustments to their own work.
In recent months, there has been an increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in the country as well as in Connecticut, including a high-profile story of the arrest of an Afghan interpreter for the US military who had fled the Taliban and resettled in Connecticut. We wondered, to what extent has this activity increased, and what we know about it?
Using data from the Deportation Data Project, we explored a few basic questions to get a clearer picture. Explore our analysis here.
Data from the Connecticut Secretary of the State reveals that annual net business formations across the state have tripled from 13,847 in 2010 to 44,146 in 2024, with the Capitol Planning Region now leading at 27% of all new businesses. We've released a dashboard that tracks these business formations, closures, and net growth trends from 2010 to 2025 and put together an analysis of the data. With this tool, you can explore the data at the state, regional, and town levels.
Many nonprofit organizations (and for-profit organizations) believe that creating a data dashboard is the key to solving all their data challenges. But the reality is often more complicated, just like the problems you are trying to solve.
Support from The Connecticut Project enabled CTData to offer Data Strategic Planning to a cohort of organizations working to increase access to affordable housing across the state. This cohort brings together nonprofit housing developers, advocates, financers, organizers, and planners operating at the local, regional, and statewide levels.
To celebrate two years of helping organizations across Connecticut strengthen their data work, CTData Collaborative’s Data Strategic Planning (DSP) program hosted a gathering of nonprofit organizations and government agencies that have completed the Data Strategic Planning initiative. Professionals working in social services, public health, legal aid, education, public libraries, housing, museums, historic preservation, and more came together at the beautiful Mercy by the Sea retreat center in Madison. They gathered to share what they have learned and how their organizations have grown through data work.
Our June Community of Practice session was centered around the AISP Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration. We explored how decisions throughout data work, from project design to credit attribution, can either advance equity or reinforce harm.
Our May Community of Practice session focused on evaluating generative AI tools with a risk-aware lens, highlighting key considerations like data handling, model transparency, and ethical safeguards. We also took a look at some practical checklists and evaluation rubrics to help guide responsible AI use in the workplace.
Non-profit organizations rarely work alone; they are often connected to other organizations working on similar issues or providing services essential to their operations. CTData provided data literacy training and coaching sessions for each of the state’s legal service providers, helping them to develop a framework for measuring their impact. The coaching sessions with each provider also helped CTData understand the challenges faced across the legal aid system and build a framework for further research.
While the topic of “disappearing data” may seem alarmist, or perhaps relevant only to data people, what we are learning about changes to the support of our publicly funded data is going to affect every organization, including non-profit and for-profit organizations. At our May 30 event in Hartford, we learned more about what is happening to data and data partnership that is affecting state data, what we can do in our own organizations to follow the law and protect privacy, and most importantly, identified actions that we can all take as participants in this great democracy.
On the afternoon of Tuesday May 13th, inside the historic Hall of Flags at the Connecticut State Capitol, Hartford youth took the spotlight. The 2025 Hartford Youth Data Walk, hosted by CTData, brought together young people, community leaders, nonprofit partners, and policymakers to engage with powerful, youth-led presentations rooted in local data. Click to read more.
The United States leads the world in providing open access to government data. However, the neutrality and availability of crucial data required for informed decision-making, dissemination of public funds, public services, and research, is at risk.
In our recent webinar, Safeguarding Federal Data for Democracy, experts from across the country gathered to discuss the urgent need to preserve public data, the threats facing federal data infrastructure, and we data users can respond.
When designing surveys that include LGBTQ+ demographic questions, how do we balance the need for data with respect for privacy and identity? Our March Equity in Data Community of Practice session tackled this challenge by examining real-world examples and developing inclusive, transparent, and trustworthy data collection guidelines.
The 2025 Hartford Youth Data Fellows hosted members from Hartford Decides at the Swift Factory this past March, creating a powerful intersection of youth engagement, data literacy, and community activism. During this session, the Fellows learned firsthand about participatory budgeting—a democratic process that allows community members to directly decide how to allocate a portion of a public budget.
