Visioning a Nationwide Infrastructure for Community Statistics Community Statistical Systems Network May 27, 2004
Participant Profile
Name(s): Andrew Reamer
Organization: Community Statistical Systems Network
Title or Subject of Initiative, Project, Program, or Other Effort Relevant to Meeting: Next Generation CSS Working Group
Nature of Effort:
___ system for on-line delivery of nationwide local area data to individual users ___ tabular data ___ mapped data geographic units (e.g., states, counties, places) include: primary data sets include:
___ tool to assist national and local data intermediaries in accessing and organizing data sets for inclusion in on-line statistical systems
___ development of applications, technologies, or standards to aid in the above
_x__ other: facilitate development of next generation community statistical systems
Current Status: ___ in operation ___ under construction ___ in planning, in conceptual development, under consideration
URL (if relevant):
Purpose and Audience (Ends): A community statistical system is an integrated data collection and delivery process that uses multi-topic, multi-source databases to enable community residents and local decision-makers to be better informed about current and historical neighborhood and city conditions. The mission of the CSS Network is to promote the development, adoption, and effective use of community statistical systems in the United States. Objectives of the CSS Network are to:
1) Facilitate the development of near-term and next generation models of community statistical systems. 2) Promote awareness and legitimacy of community statistical systems among community building organizations and practitioners, governments (at all levels), and funders. 3) Improve availability, accessibility, accuracy, and comparability of data from local, state, and federal sources. 4) Encourage effective design, development and implementation of community statistical systems in individual communities.
Brief Description (Means):
Working with MIT, the Fannie Mae Foundation, the Urban Institute, the Brookings Institution’s Urban Markets Initiatives, and others in next generation CSS design and development (key elements include intelligent middleware and distributed data structure). Organizing the May 27th meeting to explore a vision of a nationwide infrastructure for community statistics.
Brief Narrative of History, Current Status, Plans:
The CSS Network grew out of a March 2002 conference in Tampa, Florida on the next generation of community statistical systems, organized by the University of Florida. A coordinating committee, with representation from about 20 organizations, was formed to continue the conversation started at the Tampa conference. Andrew Reamer was named facilitator of the network. Working groups include CSS development and management (coordinator: Tom Kingsley, Urban Institute), data (coordinator: Cynthia Taeuber, Census Bureau/University of Baltimore), and next generation (coordinator: Joe Ferreira, MIT). The conference and Network activities have been funded by the Ford Foundation.
The CSS Network is one of ten partners in the Community Indicators Consortium (CIC) formed to organize a conference on community indicators in March 2004 in Reno, Nevada. The partners and conference attendees are meeting on June 7th, 2004 to discuss approaches to the organization of the CIC.
Relevant Background Documents (with URLs, if available):
March 2002 Tampa conference www.shimberg.ufl.edu/conference.html March 2004 Reno conference http://business.wm.edu/ISQOLS/community
Contact information: Address: Andrew Reamer, Andrew Reamer & Associates, 7 Ireland Rd., Newton, MA 02459
Telephone: (617) 795-7035 E-mail: reamer@thecia.net