Understanding childhood experiences, both positive and negative, is important to inform public health policies and prevention strategies directed to children and youth. While data related to childhood experiences exists in various data sources, our goal was to create the first data platform in Connecticut to synthesize these data sources in a user-friendly way through the use of effective visualizations and interactive dashboards.
Read MoreEach year, nonprofits and volunteer groups across the state of Connecticut engage in “get out the vote” efforts, which include encouraging eligible citizens to register to vote and encouraging registered voters to vote. However, these groups often have limited resources for “GOTV” activities, and when looking at a city such as Hartford, knowing where it might be most helpful to focus those limited resources can be a challenge. In Hartford, the Hartford Votes-Hartford Votas Coalition members hoped to address that challenge. Through a participatory engagement design, CTData partnered with the Hartford Votes Coalition to identify the data that would be most helpful for these groups and to produce a data story and dashboard that these groups could use in their GOTV efforts, engaging the GOTV groups throughout.
Read MoreIn the summer of 2023, the CT Head Start Collaboration Office, within the Office of Early Childhood, contracted with CTData to conduct a needs assessment of all Head Start and Early Head Start programs in the state. This blog post describes our work on the needs assessment and shares some key findings.
Read MoreIn 2021, the Community Service Block Grant team members (part of Connecticut Department of Social Services) talked with us about a challenge. The nine Community Action Agencies in Connecticut are required to conduct a Comprehensive Community Needs Assessment (CNA) every three years. These assessments are very data-heavy, and the staff who complete these assessments are not necessarily trained in data skills. To address this challenge, we developed a three-year project whose goal was to improve the quality of the CNAs by providing skill-building, data support, and a CNA template for CAA staff. Read more here.
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