Andy Blanke, NIU Center for Governmental Studies Research Specialist, will be teaching a new Civic Leadership Academy webinar, Demystifying Community Data, on October 24. We spoke with him to learn more about the course and why community data is important to civic leaders. Register for the course on our CLA website.
Can you start us out by telling us a little bit about community data? What is it? Where can we find it?
Community data can be a lot of different things. I would define it as anything that would help a practitioner better understand the area they’re serving, including the people that live there and the jobs and businesses that are located there. Some of that data will be demographics, which pertains to the people that live in a community. What is their age, race, ethnicity, income? And then there’s economic data about the types of jobs and businesses located in an area and the types of jobs held by residents.
When you say “practitioner,” who do you have in mind? Who could benefit from this data?
Practitioners could be anyone that’s involved in various fields of public service and civic leadership, whether that’s local governments, special districts, townships, park districts, workforce development agencies, school districts, etc.
Where is community data? Is the data already there, and people just need to know where to look? Or do communities need to gather the data on their own?
There are a lot of great resources out there provided at no cost by state and federal agencies, but historically they have not always been the easiest to work with. At this upcoming workshop, we’re going to shine some light on them so that you can start putting to use those resources that are already out there.
For example, two great resources I work with regularly are the Census Bureau and the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Anytime you want to know something about what kind of people are located in your community, you can turn to the Census Bureau. You can find out what your population is in a given year, and you can also dive into some more detailed characteristics, such as where they commute for work, or what type of housing they have.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security is great for questions such as, what types of jobs are going to be important over the next five to ten years? What are employers looking for right now, and how many jobs are located in my community?
In the course, will you be walking people through how to find what they need from these sources?
Yes! This isn’t going to be a course on how to write an Excel formula or how to make a bar graph presentation! Instead, it’s going to focus on how you can start gathering useful data for your community. This course will help you become an informed user of data, so you can have conversations about data, you know what to ask for, and you can work closely with an outside data specialist or a researcher within your organization to get the correct data you need to make an informed decision.
Can you give examples of how finding and understanding the right data helps a community with decision making?
One great example is housing. By using Census Bureau data, you can find out if your particular community has a smaller or larger percentage of housing units that are rentals compared to the rest of the county – so you can make informed decisions about which types of housing are needed in your community.
Another great example is population forecasting for service provision. If you’re trying to plan out what service provision in your water department, for example, is going to look like over the next five to ten years, you’ll need to know how many residents are going to be in the area. Whether your population is growing or shrinking, and at what rate, is going to have different implications for how you invest your time and budget.
Another great use of community data is grant funding applications. Any time your community is applying for grant funding, you need to show the granting organization that you’ve done your homework and that you’re addressing real community needs with your proposed project. Well-chosen community data can really improve your chances of getting the state or federal grants you need.
Is there anything else you want people to know about the course?
This course is aimed at people who want to take the next step in implementing evidence-based decision making, and at people who want to try and align the resources they have with the needs of their community. So if you have a rough idea of what your community needs, but you’re not sure how to put that into evidence, you can come see what information is out there so you can take the next step.
This class is also for people who might have been intimidated by some of the data out there. Maybe in the past you left the analysis to a consultant, but you weren’t sure exactly what questions to ask them. The goal of this course is to give everyone a sea chart so they can navigate that sea of data without just relying on someone else.
Should people come to the webinar with questions or issues that they’re facing in their community?
I will begin by going through the standard, latest and greatest data sources that will usually show up regardless of project. After that, if someone has a unique situation, I’ll welcome those questions. If you have a question about your community and you’re not sure if it’s addressed in any of the current data sources, come and ask! Even if we don’t find exactly what you’re looking for, we might be able to approach your question in a different way and come up with some creative solutions.
Before we sign off, can you tell me a little bit about your background and your work with community data?
I’ve been with the NIU Center for Governmental Studies for about ten years now.
I started as a graduate assistant really crunching numbers. Over the years, I was able to advance to managing analytical projects for various clients who were trying to figure out, what does their community look like, according to the data? I work with the CGS team so we can provide reports based on the clients’ needs, whether that’s a park district plan, a comprehensive economic development strategy or an environmental scan to help a community college understand their demographics and the career pathways that will be most useful for students in their area.
I was also involved in the data analysis for the 2024 statewide Economic Development Plan for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which the state updates every five years. That’s a great report for local government leaders to read to look for synergies between local planning priorities and opportunities that might be available statewide. I encourage people to take a look at the report!
Another resource I worked on was the Regional Data Packets used to inform workforce development planning. This was a joint effort with the Department of Commerce, the Department of Employment Security, and the Community College Board. They serve as a starting point for discussions about preparing residents for the jobs of the future, based on their educational background, how employment has shifted in recent years, and where businesses might struggle to fill jobs.
How can people learn more and register for the new course?
The course is online, coming up on Oct. 23. Folks can learn more and register here on the CLA website.
