Community Profiles

Using Data to Drive Change

Community Profiles are a data-driven way of taking the pulse of a community over a range of topics and a number of years. Community Profiles can help answer questions such as:

• How do my community’s test scores compare with others?
• Are the people in my community healthy compared to others? What are our leading causes
• of death and how do they compare to the areas around us?
• How many people in my county are lacking health insurance?
• Are our crime rates higher or lower than other communities?
• What is the state of our local economy? How does that compare to the state and nation?

Help for Leaders Making Decisions

In an environment of scarce and declining resources, effective targeting of resources is more important than ever. A Community Profile provides an objective assessment of a community’s performance on key indicators of well-being. That’s why grantmakers, governments, nonprofits and business and community organizations across the country are turning to Community Indicators projects for help in understanding their communities and making decisions.

A Community Profile can help decision-makers:

• Identify their community’s relative weaknesses and strengths
• Use data to set priorities and evaluate program-related outcomes
• Track progress in key areas over time
• Compare regional trends to state and national benchmarks
• Foster community dialogue about top issues and challenges

Creating Your Own Profile

CGR has developed a menu of nearly 200 indicators – measures for which reliable data are available over time and at the county level on a wide variety of topics, including education, the economy, health, children and youth, public safety, the environment, and more.

For our base price, a client may select up to 70 indicators measured across up to 3 counties. National and state comparisons are included, where available. Additional indicators and comparisons are available upon negotiation of an additional fee.

Use the Power of the Web

The Profile brings this critical information to the public through an attractive web site including these features:

• An appealing home page that helps the user navigate to each issue area.
• Broad issue analysis, including an overview of the topic and an assessment of trends.
• Specific indicator analysis, including a description of the data element and an explanation of its importance, analysis of the current and historic status, and comparison to similar communities, New York State and the nation, where data are available.
• Downloadable charts and tables displaying data trends over time and across geographies.
• The website is customized for your community with local photographs and the logo of sponsoring agencies. CGR works with you to acquire a domain name for the profile and provides hosting services.

Taking it Further

Some important things aren’t measured. And data analysis often provokes more questions than answers. CGR provides additional services for clients interested in expanding upon our standard Community Profile. This might include creating new indicators or conducting in-depth analysis where existing data produces a puzzling or unsatisfying picture of a community issue.