Our first Equity in Data Community of Practice of 2024 was held on Tuesday, January 16th. We were joined by Mica Knox, from the COMPASS Youth Collaborative, who shared the COMPASS data team’s experience developing effective and accessible dashboards. During this session, we discussed
how to determine what should be included in a dashboard,
how to gain buy-in from staff to ensure its use, and
how COMPASS staff are using it in their planning and decision-making processes.
2023 was another banner year for CTData! In 2023, we developed our first strategic plan. Moving forward, CTData will be building and growing in two areas where we have expertise and feel we can best support the social sector – data capacity building and research and analysis.
Read MoreHartford, like other cities, has a 311 service to provide residents with a centralized and easy-to-remember number for non-emergency services and information. Residents can call 311 tollfree or submit on the website about issues with their housing, city services, their neighborhood, or street issues. In 2023 the Hartford Data Collaborative and the Hartford Youth Data Fellows analyzed City of Hartford 311 calls and requests to better understand the types of complaints filed and how those requests for service varied by city neighborhoods.
Read MoreOur first Equity in Data Community of Practice of 2024 was held on Tuesday, January 16th. We were joined by Mica Knox, from the COMPASS Youth Collaborative, who shared the COMPASS data team’s experience developing effective and accessible dashboards. During this session, we discussed
how to determine what should be included in a dashboard,
how to gain buy-in from staff to ensure its use, and
how COMPASS staff are using it in their planning and decision-making processes.
When we work with data, we are always working with a place – a state, the nation, a town, etc. In data-speak, these are called “geographies.” It simply means a physical place to where the data are connected. Explore this blog post to understand the census geographies that are most commonly used in Connecticut.
Read MoreUnderstanding 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.
Read MoreCensus Bureau data products continue to give insight into changes in mortality trends over the past few years and through the Covid-19 pandemic. Vintage 2022 Population Estimates, which are based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics, take into account final 2021 and provisional 2022 mortality data and allow data users to look at mortality by sex and by race and ethnicity.
Read MoreTo celebrate Native American Heritage month, we explored the Decennial Census data files to find some data on Native Americans living in Connecticut. In this post we share what we found about the tribes with the highest populations in Connecticut, demographics of the Native American population in Connecticut, and where Native populations live across the state.
Read MoreDriven by the track record and commitment of the Connecticut Data Collaborative (CTData) to improve data literacy, the use of data, and the involvement of residents – including youth – in the development of data to improve lives in Hartford, CTData has been accepted as a partner in the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, one of the nation’s premier organizations in the field.
Read MoreAttention Hartford youth! The Hartford Data Collaborative has opened its application for Hartford youth to join HDC starting in January 2024. The Hartford Youth Data Fellowship is a 5-month data training and community-based project development program for Hartford students as part of the Hartford Data Collaborative. The program is designed to increase data literacy and analysis skills for high school seniors and college students and improve their confidence in interpreting data and sharing their insights with others. These skills and experiences will serve youth in their college and career explorations and provide an analytic foundation for youth interested in using data to make an impact in the Hartford community.
Read MoreEach month, the Equity in Data Community of Practice meets to talk about a topic that the group has indicated is of interest to their work. Through our survey results, we know that people are eager to hear from real professionals who are actively integrating equitable principles into their everyday data work. During this session, CTData staff members share their real-world experiences, insights, and actionable strategies for weaving ethical considerations and equity into their everyday data work. Participants had the chance to talk together about what they are doing to integrate equity - to learn from one another and share lessons for the benefit of others.
Read MoreThis past summer the Equity in Data Community of Practice met to learn from the Census Bureau about how to access granular data on nationality, county of origin, and more. Many people turn to data.census.gov for data on the “standard” race and ethnicity categories. But these categories never accurately represented people from different racial groups, and this is becoming more true as the US becomes more diverse. During this meeting, Kanin Reese from the Center for Enterprise Dissemination at the Census Bureau demonstrated how we can utilize the Census Bureau’s Microdata Tool to find data about people living in our state from specific countries of origin, nationalities, languages, ethnicities, and more.
Read MoreIn August 2023, the 75th agency signed the Hartford Data Collaborative Enterprisewide Memorandum of Understanding (EMOU). This is an important milestone for the Hartford Data Collaborative (HDC), formed four years ago as a trusted, neutral place for linking and integrating data to address knowledge gaps about social services in Hartford. HDC began in 2019 with four key agencies—the City of Hartford, Hartford Public Schools, Capital Workforce Partners, and Our Piece of the Pie. Since then, a growing number of community-based organizations have demonstrated an interest and willingness to participate in data sharing about their program participants and clients through HDC.
Read MoreThe 2020 Census Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics-A (Detailed DHC-A) file, which provides population counts for 1,500 racial and ethnic groups, was released last week.
There are a few methodological changes to be aware of:
Read MoreConnecticut’s Department of Public Health (DPH) has determined that the Census Bureau’s vintage 2022 population estimates are artificially high for certain Connecticut towns in 2021 and 2022 due to pandemic-related issues with the counts of residents in group quarters facilities.
This blog post:
discusses what happened;
explains the impact on population estimates for specific towns, planning regions and the state;
delineates which population estimates the state will be using for official purposes; and
provides some recommendations for data users on which version of the population estimates to use, and where to find these estimates.
The 2020 Demographic and Housing Characteristics File (DHC), released by the U.S. Census Bureau in May 2023, is one of many data products released as part of the 2020 decennial census. The DHC file includes detailed tables on topics such as age, sex, race, ethnicity, along with many topics about households and families.
The raw data can be downloaded on the Census Bureau’s website, but CTData has created a 2020 Demographics and Housing Explorer for data users to easily access and explore data found in the DHC file. Click the button or preview below to explore data for your town!
Read MoreThis week, the Census Bureau is releasing 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates data for Connecticut’s new county-equivalent planning region geographies for the first time. Earlier this year, population estimates for planning regions were released – you can read more about those estimates and about planning regions in our blog post. This blog post provides a guide to resources for the new planning region geographies.
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