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Ben Warner's Blog
SCOPE in Top 100 for Award
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 SCOPE has been selected for the Top 100 projects in the first ever "Make it Your Own" awards from the Case Foundation. Over 5,000 projects were submitted from across the country for this innovative grant-making strategy. To read more, visit the Case Foundation's " Make It Your Own" Awards website. SCOPE entered a project for the upcoming Community Report Card-related events, which will be a face-to-face opportunity for Sarasota County residents to connect indicators with action. For more on SCOPE's newly-revised Community Report Card, visit SCOPE's website.
SCOPE's been doing some truly innovative work in the world of community indicators. This effort is part of their work to galvanize community efforts around the indicators; to learn more, read the project description they submitted for the award. They also have a blog for their indicators work.
They also have one of the best e-mail newsletters for community indicators practitioners I've seen. You may want to sign up to stay on top of the good work they're doing. For those who have seen the result of the innovative partnership SCOPE had with the Ringling School of the Arts in illustrating their indicators, you understand why I consider this organization a shining light in the community indicators field.
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| October 30, 2007 | 10:10 AM |
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Vacancy Announcement at BNIA
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UB Vacancy Announcement Data Manager Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance - Jacob France Institute Vacancy #: 2008-042B Regular exempt position with benefits package Open Date: 10/26/07; Closing Date: 11/9/07 Annual Salary Range: $45,000 - $55,000 The Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance – Jacob France Institute (BNIA-JFI) is a unique research center that is part of the University of Baltimore. We are a member of the Urban Institute National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) that is dedicated to collecting, analyzing and disseminating community and neighborhood level data. For more information about BNIA-JFI, visit http://www.ubalt.edu/bnia.
TO APPLY: Include your Vacancy Number on all correspondence and in your e-mail subject line. Submit resume and cover letter to hrresume@ubalt.edu, or mail to:
Human Resources, VA 2008-042B
University of Baltimore
1420 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
______________________________
DESCRIPTION:
The Data Manager is a full-time, technical position responsible for the day-to-day technical leadership of BNIA-JFI’s database environment and design and maintenance of a neighborhood level database warehouse. The Data Manager works with BNIA-JFI staff to develop and maintain all data, monitor datasets, provide quality control, and plan for future data/technology needs. Duties include:- Develop and maintain the Vital Signs data warehouse, documenting and integrating data from a variety of primary and secondary sources.
- Work collaboratively with BNIA-JFI staff to identify and secure appropriate data sources to incrementally expand the data warehouse. Determine data protocols to address confidentiality issues. Work with staff in data analysis strengths/limitations, and best data dissemination techniques.
- Processes, geo-codes, and “cleans” data as needed.
- Ensure that data are properly geo-coded, reliable, and complies with federal and state standards in regards to accuracy and confidentiality.
- Work with staff to integrate data warehouse data sets into GIS format.
- Work with staff to develop the BNIA-JFI website including interactive mapping capabilities and datasets.
- Work with staff to fulfill data requests and provide assistance and training where required
- Staffs BNIA-JFI’s Data Committee
QUALIFICATIONS:
Requires a bachelor’s degree in social research, geography, information systems, planning, or a related field and 2 years of experience in database management, spatial and statistical analysis. Advanced degree preferred. Required skills and knowledge include: web design and programming skills, knowledge of GIS mapping applications, proficiency in MS Office Suite and statistical software, ability to communicate data and technical issues to persons with a range of data expertise, ability to work both independently and as a team-member within tight timeframes, and excellent writing and interpersonal skills. The ideal candidate will have interest in issues related to urban areas, neighborhoods, housing, education, health, and other social issues.
BENEFITS:
· Excellent State Health benefits packages, including health, life, disability insurance
· Choice of retirement plans
· Tuition remission at any University System of Maryland institution
· Generous leave package includes 15 sick days, 22 vacation days, 3 personal days and state holidays
TO APPLY: Include your Vacancy Number on all correspondence and in your e-mail subject line. Submit resume and cover letter to hrresume@ubalt.edu, or mail to:
Human Resources, VA 2008-042B
University of Baltimore
1420 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
UB is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/ADA Compliant Employer & Title IX Institution.
Web: http://www.ubalt.edu/hr
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| October 29, 2007 | 9:10 AM |
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Regards to Rural Conference Wrap-Up
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I wanted to finish our earlier conversations about the Regards to Rural conference. Some highlights and information about interesting indicators efforts in Oregon rural communities follow. First of all, a gentleman came up to me after my presentation on community indicators. I had spoken of the erroneous assumption that people don't like data, and had referenced the kinds of data that populate the news, such as sports statistics, business trends, and weather charts. He suggested the reason information was so important to communities was that "data starts conversations."
Mike Stolte was at the conference, from the Centre for Innovate and Entrepreneurial Leadership (CIEL). CIEL has a Business Vitality Initiative (BVI) which "gauges the perceptions of citizens and community leaders on 100 key indicators that are known to affect business." They've recently added the Community Vitality Initiative (CVI), which uses a series of statistics, online surveys, and more to measure a community's quality of life. They also have an interesting Communities Matrix that measures leadership, social connections, strategic capacity, and more to help a community understand where it is in moving toward comprehensive community action. Interesting work and worth checking out.
CFED (Corporation for Enterprise Development) has state rankings available on its Assets and Opportunity Scorecard, which was an interesting way to use data to move an agenda. You can look up your own state, if you live in the States.
Oregon State University had some of the most interesting rural indicators initiatives, however. The Oregon Community Indicators Project run out of the OSU Rural Studies Program brings together a series of indicators from different reporting sources (such as the Oregon Progress Board, the Community Economic Toolbox, Regional Asset Indicators, Northwest Area Foundation Indicators Website, Northwest Income Indicators Project and the U.S. Census) to help communities access information easily. The next step is the Oregon Rural Communities Explorer, still in early beta stage, that will provide public access to social, demographic, environmental, and other indicators for rural communities.
All around were discussions on using data for community change. The breakfast roundtable session on community indicators was well-attended as the group wrestled with community-level and timely data for rural communities with low or very low populations (under 500). We discussed opportunities for locally-generated information to address local topics of interest, and found a number of different ways to get at the kind of information needed -- from volunteers timing their own commute times to community satisfaction surveys.
The conference left me feeling energized, especially with the number of youth participating in the discussions. Congratulations to Rural Development Initiatives for an exciting and well-run conference.
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| October 29, 2007 | 5:10 AM |
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Position Announcement: Metro Council, St. Paul Minnesota
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Position: Manager, Research Job Posting No: 291125 Salary Range: $59,082 - $88,623 Department: Community Development Posting Date: October 26, 2007 Deadline: November 9, 2007 Position SummaryPlans and directs the operations of the research business unit; acts as business unit advisor in the interpretation and application of research findings. Directs, coordinates and evaluates research and GIS programs and projects, assigned to and carried out by research and GIS staff. Manages the analyses of economic, fiscal, socio-demographic, and land use data to policymakers and the public by supervising the research and GIS operations and staff in the Planning and Growth Management Department.
Education/Training & Experience Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Planning, Geography, Economics, Demography or related field.
- Six (6) years of progressively responsible related work experience of which four (4) years must include a combination of supervisory and project management roles. A combination of education and years of relevant experience may be considered.
License/Certification Selection Process Candidates will be selected for interview based on the results of: - Education and Experience Rating (review of applicationmaterials)
How to Apply For consideration, applicants must complete: and submit by email (preferred), fax or mail by the deadline date to: Metropolitan Council
Email: HR.Team3@metc.state.mn.us
Fax: 651-602-1071
Mail: Human Resources, 390 Robert St. N., St. Paul, MN 55101 Please visit our website at http://metrocouncil.org/jobs/apply.htm for more information about this position and for employment application forms.
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| October 29, 2007 | 5:10 AM |
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More from Regards to Rural Conference
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Good morning! Last night as part of the Regards to Rural V Conference we had a chance to hear from Frances Moore Lappé, author of books like Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity, and Courage in a World Gone Mad, Democracy's Edge, and You Have the Power: Choosing Courage in a Culture of Fear. What she had to say wasn't about indicators, but about community. Yet there were a few thoughts I thought that community indicators practitioners might want to pay attention to.
Democracy, she suggested, wasn't merely elections plus free markets, some structure or set of institutions inherited from the past that continues unaided into the future. Instead, democracy is something we do; democracy isn't a system, it is a set of shared values that undergird how we make decisions that matter for the community. There are plenty of examples of systems that use the forms of democracy without really engaging the people in making decisions that matter.
Important for democracy, then, are institutions that act in a convener role, and that engage citizens in acts of power. To get there, we need to rethink power. Power is not a thing, it is the capacity to act, and power is always relationships.
We need to rethink fear, because perhaps the only real problem we have to overcome is citizens feeling powerlessness.
So how does this fit with communtiy indicators efforts? As we engage communities in identifying what matters, and measuring our progress towards real and actual change, we are engaging citizens in acts of true power -- building relationships, enlarging the capacity to make change.
And when we succeed, which we often do in quiet and marvelous ways, we need to do a better job of telling our stories. Frances Moore Lappé says that we become part of this "living democracy" through shared story-telling, seeing the examples of democracy-in-action, and creating new norms for our communities. We've been talking quite a bit here about the importance of storytelling, and here's another reason to get better at telling our stories: not just to move the actions we're working on, but to inspire others with a greater sense of capacity to act (power) so that they too can do much good in our communities.
What do you think?
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| October 26, 2007 | 9:10 AM |
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