May 2023 - Partnering to understand people's experiences with data
The pandemic taught us a lot about vulnerabilities in our communities but also in the social sector itself. Many of those vulnerabilities have to do with the information that we have (or don't have) to make critical decisions.
Most often, we use our internal program data and/or large census-type population data to tell us what's going on. But in the middle is the hard work of talking to our communities directly.?At a scale larger than just our participants and more local than blanket trends, community insights can tell us a lot more about what's happening in our communities. You'll learn about both?emerging needs?and?community assets?in?real-time.
One way we're building our skills around this at Nexus is through an initiative administered by the?CDC Foundation, made possible through support from the?Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The CDC has been collecting and sharing public health data for a long time. But they haven’t always asked community members and public health practitioners if they’re asking the right questions or if the data reflect their lived experience. So, we're conducting interviews and focus groups with diverse communities to inform better and more equitable data collection in the future.
How do you connect with our region’s diverse communities you may ask? Well, we're a bunch of researchers, so instead of wandering into neighborhoods to interview residents, we're working closely with partners who already have rapport.? FCS - Focused Community Strategies , the Latino Community Fund (LCF Georgia) , and?ARCHI have great relationships with their respective communities, and together we've gained many insights about how we can collect and use data to advance health equity locally and nationally.
Talking to the communities you want to serve is essential, but it can be difficult. Partnering with others to build authentic relationships over time will help. Stay tuned to learn more about how we are integrating?personal narratives and lived experiences?into our data work!
- Nikolai Elneser , Community Impact
Real-time insights
Georgia’s linguistic diversity is not exclusively in the state’s most populous counties
Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta recently published a “Linguistic Diversity in Georgia” report detailing data and recommendations to better serve Georgia’s diverse populations.
领英推荐
The 2020 census may have missed a large share of noncitizens
A recent US Census Bureau study of government administrative data “designed to improve coverage of historically undercounted population groups” found the potential for a significant undercount of noncitizens in the 2020 Census.
A comprehensive view of the regional workforce data
With this dashboard,? CareerRise ?provides insights into Metro Atlanta's labor market to inform decision-making around program development, education and training opportunities, hiring practices and more.
In the CareerRise Workforce Dashboard, you'll find information related to labor market demographics, wages, occupational supply and demand, and in-demand skills.
What we're reading
Tommy, Executive Director:?For years, I've taken inspiration from?Mona Chalabi's hand-drawn style of data visualization?and reporting. So, it was incredible to see her?win a Pulitzer?earlier this month!
Lysa, Data Fluency & Training Manager:?I recently read?Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, the title coming from the length of the average human life. While it sounds morbid, I found the book absolutely refreshing. In a society that is constantly telling us to optimize, maximize and monetize, Burkeman looks at our limited time and tells us to do less. His premise is that once we acknowledge that there isn't enough time to do everything, we are free to spend our limited time on the things that truly matter to us. He encourages us to let go of the need to control every moment and accept reality as it is.