DEVELOPMENT AND USAGE OF METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL DATA IN SELECTED U'S' CITIES

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DEVELOPMENT AND USAGE OF METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL
DATA IN SELECTED U.S. CITIES

• Anna Marie Schuh
• Associate Professor
• Roosevelt University
• Metropolitan International Statistics Forum
• Beijing, China
• October 20, 2008

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Study Purpose

• Explore local statistical gathering and
  disseminating activities
• In U.S. Federal system
• Where there is no central control of all
  statistical efforts
• To understand
• How the efforts relate to the general public
• How the efforts interface with each other
• Whether any common foci exist among the
  institutional efforts

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U. S. Statistical Gathering System

• Census Bureau
• Demographic statistics
• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Business labor statistics
• State local governments
• Local statistics
• Crime
• Housing

• Business associations
• Specific industry statistics
• Local non-profits
• Indices of livability

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Study Methodology

• Opportunity sample
• Information about organizations providing
  statistics obtained from the internet
• Sample varies by
• Geographic location
• Population size
• Organization type

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Organization Selection Criteria

• Local coverage affiliation
• To ensure a local focus
• Provide data without cost or membership
  requirements
• This eliminated many universities from the sample
• Also eliminated many business focused
  professional organizations

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Sample Characteristics

• Municipal size
• Very large (1M or larger) 4
• Large (500,000 to 1M) 4
• Moderate (100,00--- to 500,000) 6
• Small (Under 100,000)- 1
• Geographic region
• East 6
• Midwest 6
• South 6
• West - 3

• Sponsor
• Non profit 14
• Government 5
• For profit - 2

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Geographic Placement of Organizations
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Study Characteristics

• 21 organizational websites
• Variables
• Size of metropolis
• Geographic placement in the U.S.
• Nature of the organization sponsor
• Type of data gathered
• Nature of the data source
• Client focus

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General Study Results

• Recent effect of internet on provision of
  statistical data
• Most sites created since 2000
• Organizations are responding to citizen demand
• Sites contain a large variety of data
• Most data is available to the public at large
• Users often get individually tailored information
  almost instantly

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Additional General Finding

• Information is geared toward decision making
  citizens
• Locally developed information involves livability
  indices
• Safety
• Housing affordability
• Neighborhood diversity
• Education quality
• State of public health

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Size Matters

• Very large and large cities are more likely to
  have statistics developed in all three sectors,
  public, private and non profit
• Very large cities focus on all types of clients
• Moderate cities focus on citizens and government
  managers

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Location Matters

• Sponsors
• South and Midwest have nonprofit and government
  sponsors
• West avoid government sponsors and concentrate on
  non profit and profit sponsors

• Clients
• East, Midwest and West focus on public and
  government planners
• South focuses mainly on the government as the
  client

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List of Reviewed Organizations, P1

• Atlanta Regional Commission, Atlanta, GA
• Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance,
  Baltimore, MD
• CAMConnect, Camden, NJ
• Child and Family Policy Center, Des Moines, IA
• Community Research Council, Chattanooga, TN
• Community Research Partners, Columbus, OH

• Community Resource Network, Louisville, KY
• Community Services Planning Council, Sacramento,
  CA
• Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, New
  Orleans, LA
• J. McDonald Williams Institute, Dallas, TX
• Mayors Office of Operations, New York, NY

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List of Reviewed Organizations, P2

• Metropolitan Chicago Information Center, Chicago,
  IL
• Metropolitan Area Planning Council, Boston, MA
• Michigan Metropolitan Information Center,
  Detroit, MI
• Neighborhoods Resource Center, Nashville, TN

• Non-profit Center of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
• NYC Statistics, New York, NY
• The Piton Foundation, Denver, CO
• The Polis Center at Indiana University,
  Indianapolis, IN
• The Providence Plan, Providence, RI
• Urban Strategies Council, Oakland, CA

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The End