Mission: We believe that communities who know their landscapes in well-grounded, evidence-based ways enhance their capacity to make decisions that are socially conscious, meaningful, and impactful in advancing progress and positive change.
The dashboard is a flexible tool that is capable of evolving in alignment with a community’s needs and interests.
1) To support knowledge-building, research, and policy-making processes related to opportunities and challenges in local neighborhoods;
2) To encourage data-driven decision-making at the neighborhood level and beyond with specific awareness of the impacts and implications for residents.
Basic Framework The current dashboard has evolved since 2011, when it was first initiated. While the dashboard viewpoint positions the data as part of the larger context of the City of Atlanta, the priority is to offer resources and visualizations of data linked particularly to Westside neighborhoods (with specific attention to Neighborhood Planning Units** K, L, and T). Currently, we present information through seven portals 1) community profile, 2) education, 3) historic timeline, 4) historic data, 5) public safety, 6) community assets map, and 7) collaborative projects.
Purpose The CWK, Inc. Data Dashboard™* serves as a one-stop shop for accessible key data.
* Community leadership
* Community organization
* Researchers
* Local government agencies
* Foundations who are interested in sustainable communities
* Students
Goals As a user-friendly tool, the Data Dashboard is designed to:
* facilitate the documentation of the local history, conditions, issues, challenges, and achievements of specific communities by:
* drawing quantitative data from publicly available sources.
* generating qualitative data through various storytelling mechanisms.
* offer credible resources to various users (community stakeholders, policy-makers, researchers) in support of knowledge-building and evidence-based analyses, decision-making processes, and strategic planning.
* provide basic tools for community stakeholders (and, upon request, training for them on how to utilize the tools) to participate actively in bringing their own visions and voices to bear in addressing challenges and opportunities.
*Note that the Communities Who Know, Inc. Data Dashboard™ was originally developed under the leadership and management of former Dean Jacqueline J. Royster as part of a special project of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Institute of Technology. The Westside Communities Alliance was a collaboration of the College with the College of Design and partners in Westside communities. This project ended in Spring 2016, but the development of the dashboard has continued and now operates under Royster’s leadership of Communities Who Know, Inc.™
**In the City of Atlanta, a Neighborhood Planning Unit is a citizen advisory council that makes recommendations to the Mayor and City Council on zoning, land use, and other planning issues.
Copyright (c) 2018 Communities Who Know, Inc. All rights reserved Terms and Conditions
