New CED Data Resources Keep Rolling Out: The Opportunity Atlas, The Eviction Lab, Every Building in America and A Look Back to How Data Can Help in Disaster Recovery

<p>Data are clearly no longer the purview of academics and government officials writing research reports with five pages of text and one hundred appendixes.   This post focuses briefly on several amazing datasets that are available with detailed information for CED professionals, as well as a reminder of how important data can be in tracking progress on long-term disaster recovery.</p> <p>Our new-found ability to explore massive amounts of detailed data on socially complex CED problems is astounding.  The Opportunity Atlas is just the most recent example.   Based on information on 20 million Americans from childhood to over 30, we can see the pattern of socio-economic results for individuals from the perspective of where they grew up.  In other words, we can see how your hometown influences your middle age – your social mobility.  The data are at the census tract level.  In many cases, the lessons are sobering.</p> <p>For many people, simply comparing where you are personally versus general economic mobility for your hometown is interesting.  However, the more important lesson for CED professionals is that we can now understand the mobility implications of raising a family in any community.  When you have millions of data points, it is hard to ignore that some communities offer greater promise over the long-term than others.  The data are publicly available and likely will be used in business and personal decisions on where to live and work.  With these data comes power, however – the power for communities to be proactive in thinking of long-term policies to increase economic opportunity [...]</p>