Updates to this blog will be slow over the next week, as I've got another cross-country road trip planned, a large family gathering for Thanksgiving, and I'm getting married.

That won't mean that I'm not going to pass along any updates from the world of community indicators -- the Strasbourg conference is coming up this week, and I'm hoping some of the attendees will share information about what happens there. Plus I've been pulling together the final bits of data for updates to JCCI's Quality of Life Progress Report and the Race Relations Progress Report, and some of what we've found has been really interesting.

But I've been warned that blogging about data visualization techniques and community statistics while on my honeymoon is strictly forbidden. So the bulk of the updates will have to wait until the second week in December.

See you then!

I drew your attention last year to the Pikes Peak Quality of Life Indicators Report. Now they've released their 2008 report, and there's news about their planning for the 2009 update.

From Bettina at CopperBlog:

The 2008 Quality of Life Indicators Project ... was published this Fall. Click here to read the report online. In 2009, the report will be linked to the Dream City initiative. This is an exciting opportunity because now, as we have the tools and systems in place to determine where we are now, we can link key areas of performance to methods for producing a better quality of life in the future, and inspire decision-making and action.

That's good news, because the most important part of the process of developing a community indicators report isn't choosing the right indicators or publishing your first report; it's creating a sustainable project that becomes institutionalized in the decision-making processes throughout the community. So congratulations to the United Way and all others involved in the Pikes Peak project for continuing to move the effort forward. I'm looking forward to next year's update!

You can order this directly from Mary & Matt for $20. It's 70 percent milk chocolate, 20 percent dark chocolate, and 10 percent white chocolate.

Yum.

(Hat tip: Flowing Data)

I'm passing on a note to those in Colorado who might be interested.

The Civic Canopy, in partnership with The Denver Foundation and The Piton Foundation, is hosting a new program called Neighborhoood Vital Signs Learning Exchange. Neighborhood Vital Signs helps neighborhoods develop a shared vision, work collaboratively to acheive it, and measure their progress along the way. This project is at the heart of The Civic Canopy's mission - strengthening community through authentic dialogue, rich collaboration and resolute accountability.

Here's what you need to know:

We've been seeing a growing trend of community foundations publishing community indicators reports. This is particularly exciting because it paces private philanthropic giving within an overall framework of community improvement, and has the added benefit of encouraging even more charitable giving to address clearly identified community needs. (I think I've mentioned a few times my strong belief that only through collaborative action can we address the multitude of inter-related issues in an effective manner, uniting government, business, and nonprofit sectors.)

Anyway, what triggered this thought was the release by the Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation of the Northwest Arkansas Community Indicators Report. The report covers the social and demographic composition of the region, and has sections on indicators of income and poverty, housing and homelessness, families and households, education, health, public safety, aging and elderly, natural environment, civic engagement, and the arts.

Two thoughts about the report:

First, I liked their explanation of why they needed to look at the indicators on a regional basis. They said:

A regional perspective on the quality-of-life in Northwest Arkansas is important because many issues transcend more limited territorial boundaries. Certainly, the Northwest Arkansas region consists of multiple local jurisdictions including counties, cities, townships, and school districts, with each having their own local planning autonomy. Nevertheless, there are a number of critical problems that can only be addressed regionally. In recent times, the Northwest Arkansas Council has made extraordinary efforts to address the hard infrastructure needs of the region (e.g. air and water quality, traffic patterns, transportation, growth) by adopting a regional approach. With a regional approach new alliances can be created, new partnerships forged, and innovative strategies developed to address the soft infrastructure challenges facing Northwest Arkansas in the 21st Century. Hopefully, this report will contribute to these future dialogues.

The second thought is about their indicators of the elderly and aging populations. I've been loking for good, localized indicators of the quality of life of older persons for quite some time. What I've been able to find so far is echoed in this report, though they put the data together differently and try to draw out the story better than I've been able to in the past. They measure the number of older persons, the growth in the agining population, how many live alone, how many are employed, and then focus into how many are in poverty, how many receive public assistance, how many are in nursing homes, and then go into indicators of health and death. I'm convinced there's a much larger story we need to be telling about this new life stage besides that of poverty and dying, but I can't find good, positive indicators of the kinds of vibrancy and contributions that this new generation of active retirees -- this new life stage -- is adding to communities. I'd love your help, if you can offer any.