Creating & Launching the North Carolina Resilience Index – our June Virtual Community Discussion

caryn.barretta@ajah.ca on July 19, 2024

On June 20, 2024 our colleagues at the North Carolina Pandemic Recovery Office (NCPRO) shared their forthcoming tool, the Resilience Index and accompanying dashboard. Natalie Garrett and Kiel Kinkade discussed the challenges their community faced after the pandemic, and the data needed to understand the key issues faced by their community.

During community discussion. attendees were curious about the adoption strategy for the tool, how NCPRO approached communicating about the data sources used to make the Index, and stakeholder management on the scale that the Index required. Key takeaways from the session include: 

  • The problem your data tool is solving is your north star: Use cases are the foundation from which all decisions related to your tool’s features, data, and design should be made. The Resilience Index was built in direct response to a lack of data necessary for local decision makers to fully understand key social, economic, and environmental issues in their communities.
  • Build data tools with your audience in mind: NCRPO learned what their key users wanted from their index and prioritized those features to their roadmap to build buy-in on the tool and adoption. An example feature in the Resilience Index allows users to parse the data in different views that reflect their interests, such as county or council of government.
  • Educate stakeholders about the considerations, strengths, and limitations of your data product to create the right expectations and usage: NCPRO has created multiple versions of documentation to provide to users based on their familiarity with or desire for details on the statistics behind their indices.
  • Build with what you have, with the plan to improve over time: Sometimes the data that exists at the time of development is less than perfect, but you can always plan to improve sources in the future.
  • Collaborative design can build trust: The process of developing a useful data product in close collaboration with decision makers and/or funders can build trust and relationships. Even if you are a newer organization, doing this well can help stakeholders  see you as a responsible partner capable of becoming a trusted source of information.

Slides from this session are accessible here. If you prefer a recording of the presentation portion of this virtual community discussion, you may view one here.

Building Quality Data Products – A States for the Future Community Resource

caryn.barretta@ajah.ca on April 11, 2024

States for the Future is excited to share its newest Network Resource: Building Quality Data Products. 

As data-driven policy organizations, one of the most effective ways to impact policy conversations happening in our states is by making data and analysis accessible and meaningful to decision makers and community members. 

Quality data products—such as dashboards, infographics, dynamic data visualizations, calculators, simulators, interactive maps, etc.—can serve as a starting point for shared facts, bring clarity to complex problems, and support policy analysis and goals. 

But creating quality data products requires organizations to invest in not only the build, but also ongoing maintenance and efforts to drive adoption and use of a data product.  In this resource, we discuss the Purpose, People, Build, and Action best practices that can lead to success, as well as tips, resources, and links to other products peers have created for inspiration. 

Leveraging the expertise of States for the Future organizations and Network partners Ajah and January Advisors, Building Quality Data Products builds on the robust conversations during our “Building Data Products” breakout session at our 2024 Annual Convening in Tempe, Arizona. In this session, and in many of our monthly virtual community discussions, Network members have discussed the common challenges and considerations that nonprofit, data-driven policy organizations face when making decisions about building data products. This network resource attempts to address many of those questions, including:

  • Should I create a data product? What type of data product should I create?
  • What should I look for in a vendor?
  • Will people use my data product?
Read the resource

We would love your feedback on this Community Resource! If you have any comments or want to brainstorm on your own data product, please let us know at info@statesforthefuture.org.