USING INFORMATION FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE The National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) Community Information Funders Meeting May 12, 2010 Tom Kingsley and Kathy Pettit The Urban Institute

NEIGHBORHOOD INDICATORS u Neighborhood data critical for policy –City-wide averages misleading because problems concentrated (poverty, etc.) –20 yrs. ago – available only in census u Breakthrough in early 1990s –Local intermediaries began assembling administrative data from local agencies –New GIS technology dramatically improved capacity and reduced cost

HISTORY OF NNIP u Groups doing this work in 5 cities came to Urban Institute to explore partnering –Wanted to spread these ideas, capacities –Urban Institute agreed on the potential u National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) formed in 1995 –Local partners (data intermediaries) 34 cities –Urban Institute serves as secretariat –Executive committee elected from partnership

LOCAL PARTNERS IN NNIP The defining functions u Building and operating information systems with integrated and recurrently updated indicators on neighborhood conditions u Facilitating and promoting the direct practical use of indicators by community and city leaders in community building and local policy making u Giving emphasis to using information to build the capacities of institutions and residents in distressed neighborhoods

Current National Neighborhood Indicators Partners Atlanta Baltimore Boston Camden Chattanooga Chicago Cleveland Columbus Dallas Denver Des Moines Detroit Grand Rapids Hartford Indianapolis Kansas City Louisville Los Angeles Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis-St. Paul Nashville New Haven New Orleans New York City Oakland Philadelphia Pittsburgh Portland Providence Sacramento Saint Louis Seattle Washington, DC

(1) Data and Technology GIS - People relate to data analysis at the neighborhood level. (2) Institutions - Long-term and multifaceted interests - Positioned to maintain trust of data providers and users (3) Progressive Mission: Information for Change Success due to three innovations

LOCAL PARTNERS IN NNIP DATA FROM MANY SOURCES Neighborhood level – social/economic/physical u Employment u Births, deaths u Crimes u TANF, Food Stamps u Child care u Health u Schools Parcel level – physical/ economic u Property sales u Property ownership u Code violations u Assessed values u Tax arrears u Vacant/abandoned u City/CDC plans

NEIGHBORHOOD DATA–BALTIMORE

PARCEL LEVEL DATA –BALTIMORE

u NNIP Partners – mostly non-government: 10 community-oriented university departments or research centers 3 free-standing nonprofits, NNIP work exclusively 12 free-standing nonprofits, NNIP work + other 1 government agency 2 local funders (community fndn., United Way) 6 formal partnerships between one or more of the types above LOCAL PARTNERS IN NNIP INSTITUTIONAL HOMES

u Offer a one-stop-shop for data - Tremendous efficiency for users - Expands civic collaboration u Positioned to maintain trust of data providers and users over long term - Not linked to short term political interest - Care with cleaning and release of data u Are, or can be, locally self-sustaining - Fee/project income can cover some of the cost - But local general support required

u Comprehensive indicator review –Well developed in Boston, Baltimore, Chattanooga, Philadelphia, Seattle u Using indicators in local change initiatives –Citywide analysis to change laws and policies –Guide program planning and implementation (spatial targeting of resources) –Support individual neighborhood improvement and development initiatives –Support program/policy evaluation LOCAL PARTNERS IN NNIP TYPES OF APPLICATIONS

u Data driven planning process managed by NPI and based on NEO CANDO data u Neighborhood specific strategies built around anchor projects and targeted foreclosure intervention u NEO CANDO the basis for land assembly –Analysis of mix of data including ownership, vacancy status, sales prices, water shut-offs, foreclosure filings –Analysis supports determining reasonable acquisition price Cleveland Strategic Investment Initiative CATALYZING MARKET RECOVERY

THE WORK OF THE PARTNERSHIP u Advance the state of practice 1. Informing local policy initiatives (substantive cross-site initiatives) 2. Developing tools and guides (NNIP Elements of Practice) u Build/strengthen local capacity 3.Developing capacity in new communities 4.Services to an expanding network (Community of Practice and Partnership) u Influence national context/partnering 5.Leadership in building the field

RECENT FUNDING Annie E. Casey Foundation - General Support / Semi-Annual Meetings - Cross-site school readiness and success initiative (8 cities ) MacArthur Foundation - Support for the Sustainable Communities Initiative Evaluation (10 cities) Open Society Institute - Grant to UI about children and foreclosures (3 cities) Fannie Mae - Cross-site foreclosure response strategy project (3 cities)

WORK OF THE PARTNERSHIP CROSS SITE INITIATIVES Address real policy issues - comparable approach across sites to yield national insights u Welfare to work u Health in neighborhoods u Arts & culture u Prisoner reentry u Parcel based tools & market analysis u School readiness u Foreclosure strategy u Foreclosures & kids u Evaluate community development u Shared indicators (pending) u Food and nutrition (pending)

u Largest part of achievement gap present before kindergarten u Early childhood services highly fragmented – data-driven advocacy can bring coherence u Problems concentrated in low-income neighborhoods – Opportunity to target services – Exacerbated by churning mobility of many poor families with children Cross-site initiatives SCHOOLS & EARLY CHILDHOOD

u Taking advantage of recent improvements in parcel-level data u Focus on tools to bring timely and relevant information to decisions around property u Better information will help cities, nonprofits, private actors – Early warning of foreclosures and monitoring of impacts – Neighborhood targeted prevention – Develop neighborhood specific stabilization strategies – Coordinate and track progress Cross-site initiatives HOUSING MARKETS/FORECLOSURE

Providence Urban Land Reform System

Addressing The Foreclosure Crisis: Atlanta

u Developing tools and guides - About 30 documents (reports, articles, guidebooks, etc.) on website - Covers substantive policy, community process, and technical aspects u Dissemination/interaction - Website (now being re-designed) - list serve – 745 subscribers - Semi-annual partnership meetings (60-80 participants) - Frequent topical webinars WORK OF THE PARTNERSHIP DOCUMENTATION & DISSEMINATION

u Build capacity in new cities - Supportive advice, visits to new sites (but limited technical assistance) - Bring in up to 4 new partners per year u Excerpts from national datasets developed and sent to partners - Files with small area data from national sources - E.g., Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, IRS, National Center for Educational Statistics WORK OF THE PARTNERSHIP BUILD/STRENGTHEN LOCAL CAPACITY

u Active participation, key national initiatives - LISC/MacArthur Sustainable Community Initiative and new Comprehensive Community Development Institute - Community Indicators Consortium - umbrella organization promoting development/use of indicators u Other efforts to advance the field - New book on Information and Community Change (MacArthur Foundation Grant) - Spearheading National Community Information Collaborative (with national housing & community development groups to promote greater community access to data) WORK OF THE PARTNERSHIP NATIONAL LEADERSHIP/INFLUENCE

For more information on NNIP u Web site: u u Mailing address: Tom Kingsley or Kathy Pettit National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership c/o The Urban Institute 2100 M Street NW Washington, DC 20037