Community Dashboard gauging our progress together

Presentation to National Association of Planning Councils

May 6, 20121

Community Action Network is…

a collaboration of agencies, organizations and individuals who work together to promote equity and opportunity.

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CAN Partner Organizations• Austin Chamber of

Commerce• Austin Community

College• Austin ISD• Austin Travis County

Integral Care• Central Health• Capital Metro• City of Austin• Community Justice

Council• interfaith Action of

Central Texas (iACT)• One Voice Central Texas• Seton Healthcare

Network• St. David's Foundation• St. Edward's University• Travis County• United Way Capital Area• University of Texas at

Austin• Workforce Solutions –

Capital Area3

CAN = Policy + Community + ServicePo

licy

make

rs• CAN Board of Directors - elected

officials and policy makers representing each CAN partner organization

Com

munit

ym

em

bers

• CAN Community Council – self-appointed board of community members with an annual application and election process

Serv

ice

pro

vid

ers

• Issue Area Groups and Implementation Teams - professionals who serve our community through agencies or non-profit organizations

our basic needs are met

we are safe,just & engaged

we are healthy

Community Dashboard tracks indicators in four goal areas…

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we achieve our full

potential

Equity & Opportunit

y

CAN Community Dashboard

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snapshot of community’s well-being (NOT an assessment)

identifies areas where collective attention and action are needed

no partner or agency alone is accountable for any one indicator

multiple stakeholders are required to move any one indicator in the right direction

CAN Community Dashboard

This annual report has become a signature product of Community Action Network

Released each spring with increasing media attention

Has created a common language – a short list of stats that leaders can use in discussing the community’s needs and conditions

Has elevated CAN’s status as the place to turn to for an analysis of community conditions

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www.cancommunitydashboard.org

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All 3 years’ reports and a Power Point highlight summary are available for download

Expanded “drill-down” data for each indicator Historical trends for nation, state, MSA and

county Graphs depicting disparities Information on vulnerable populations Local efforts to improve the indicator Common strategies found in multiple planning

documents Expanded Strategic Framework for Action

with examples of strategies recommended by stakeholders

Information about the Dashboard Steering Committee

Informed by Results Based Accountability

Begin with desired RESULTS - common vision for all people

Community Indicators - measure whether the community is moving closer to its common vision

Strategies - what works in turning the curve on community-wide indicators?

Performance measures - metrics tracking the effectiveness of strategies’ impact on client populations

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Collective Impact Collective Impact vs. Isolated Impact

Common Agenda and Goals Shared Measurement Mutually Reinforcing Activities Communication Backbone Support

Rather than a “thousand random acts of kindness” we have many organizations focused on the same targets and weaving together many activities into a common agenda.

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Building Our Community Dashboard

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1. Common Vision (2008)2. Community Dashboard Indicators

(2009)3. Baseline (2010)4. Set Goals and Targets (2011)5. Plans and strategies to move the

indicators in the right direction (2012)

Common Vision - 2008

Drew on Austin Equity Commission Report, the Central Texas Sustainability Indicators Project, the Kirwan Institute Central Texas Opportunity Mapping Initiative and the NAPC 2005 Leading Social Indicators report

Engaged the CAN Board of Directors, the CAN Community Council and Issue Area Groups in a process to identify common goals for ALL people in our community

Shared and received feedback during annual CAN retreat

CAN Board of Directors adopted the Common Vision and directed staff to begin development of a Community Dashboard

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Selecting Indicators - 2009

CAN appointed a Dashboard Steering Committee with expertise in education, health, human services, criminal justice, workforce, transportation and housing.

Held 8 meetings throughout the year CAN staff gathered a long list of indicators,

sorted by common vision statements. CAN staff researched other community

indicator projects and types of dashboards.

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Selecting Indicators - 2009 Dashboard Steering

Committee selected a short-list of indicators to gauge whether community is moving closer to the common vision.

Indicators were prioritized by… proxy power, communication power and data power.

CAN Board of Directors approved 16 indicators in December 2009.

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Baseline - 2010

First annual Community Dashboard report was published

Report highlighted… Significance of each

indicator Five year trends Local comparisons to

MSA, state and nation Highlight key

collaborative efforts to address indicators

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Baseline - 2010

Stakeholders were invited to televised CAN Community council forums … Where do we stand on this indicator? Who is working to improve the indicator? What more needs to be done?

Dashboard Steering Committee prepared quarterly updates for CAN Board of Directors

CAN staff consolidated all stakeholder recommendations made to the Board and Community Council throughout the year and shared them at annual CAN retreat

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Set Goals and Targets - 2011

Second Community Dashboard report was published

Report highlighted… Data updates Demographic data Local efforts to improve the

indicators

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Set Goals and Targets - 2011 Each indicator was assigned a Dashboard

Steering Committee member who worked with an Issue Area Group or other key stakeholders to agree on a proposed Goal and Target for each indicator.

The Dashboard Steering Committee considered the proposal and agreed on a recommendation to pass along to the CAN Board of Directors.

The CAN Board of Directors considered and approved Goals and Targets, as they became available.

CAN staff began an analysis of community planning documents noting common recommendations.

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Strategic Framework for Action - 2012

Third Community Dashboard report was released

The report highlighted… Targets for most indicators Expanded demographic data Common strategies for turning the

curve that were identified through an analysis of 70+ community planning documents

A Strategic Framework for Action based on stakeholder recommendations, an analysis of community planning documents, and Issue Area Group feedback

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Strategic Framework for Action - 2012

Dashboard Steering Committee is reviewing the Dashboard and considering what changes should be made.

CAN Board of Directors is taking a closer look at each “section” of the Community Dashboard and discussing what the opportunities and barriers are to turning the curve for the indicators.

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How do we use the Community Dashboard? To identify areas in the community where CAN

partners’ collective action is needed To help government, education, health and

human services and non-profit organizations understand the context within which they take action

To communicate with the public at large about … Community conditions Key strategies for improving community conditions Local collaborative efforts and local plans for

improving community conditions

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Informing the work CAN partners do together

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• annual benchmark of indicators and detailed analysis of each indicator

• links to key stakeholders working to move indicators in the right direction

Community Dashboard

• identify convergence of findings and relationships across indicators

• identify strategic issues

• consider consequences of doing nothing

Annual Analysis • identify key

initiatives for annual CAN Work Plan

• develop Work Groups and engage stakeholders in collaborative action

• report resultsAnnual CAN Work

Plan

our basic needs are met

we are safe,just & engaged

we are healthy

All four goal areas are inter-related…

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we achieve our full

potential

Equity & Opportunit

y

What problems have we encountered?

Difficult for people to understand difference between community indicators and performance measures

Always balancing need to be thorough and to follow a process with trying our participants’ patience

Special populations feel omitted (developmental disabilities, aging, reentry, veterans)

Inconsistency in setting targets, which makes measuring progress difficult

Turnover in leaders and elected officials24

Key considerations

Issues that impact our ability to improve the indicators… Population growth Diversity Sprawl Political climate Global economy

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Where will we go from here? There is benefit in continuing to release this

annual analysis of community conditions and key initiatives to move closer to the common vision.

The Common language of the Community Dashboard will strengthen our resiliency in meeting challenges.

Some interest in finding common “Performance Measures” under each of the Strategic Framework for Action building blocks.

How does CAN help the community “move the needle” when we have no planning authority and no funding?

How do we integrate and connect the many, many planning efforts already going on in our community?

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