Community leaders and employers are reexamining traditional approaches to economic development and focusing more on their existing workforce and equitable investment. Post-pandemic cities, counties, regions, and states want to be sure that their programs and partnerships are driven by data and can be measured in meaningful ways.
This work has become increasingly important as the U.S. workforce is shifting rapidly. It is no longer optional to address just education, training and recruitment. Regional economic development efforts must assess access to healthcare and address the prevalence of chronic disease, among other social determinants of health, to develop a strategy that identifies the right investments to build a prosperous and resilient community.
That’s why Metopio makes it easy to put health and wealth equity at the center of your decision-making and collaborative efforts – without the help of expensive consultants.
Watch the video to see how BE NKY created their dashboard.
“Data-informed community decision-making” is one of four key initiatives developed by BE NKY, with public and private sector input, as part of our Build + Elevate NKY campaign. Making data publicly available by developing a dashboard on an open, interactive website was one of three actions listed for this initiative.”
David McAleese, Research Director
The user-friendly interface provides curated data and visualization tools down to the census tract that can be safely shared with the public, elected officials, nonprofits and business leaders to align resources and create shared goals. Metopio makes it easy to leverage data to highlight competitive community attributes, develop strategies that promote inclusive growth, and support meaningful investments across communities.
Metopio empowers your organization to:
- Put data in the hands of those who need to use it without the need for extensive training
- Effectively share data and collaborate with key community stakeholders and potential investors
- Elevate grant applications and proposals with specific, unique data that tells an effective story
- Simplify data collection in one interface that is easy to manage
- Relieve the burden on small teams to constantly find, curate and clean data for analysis
Economic Development in action:
Access, affordability and adaptability are all areas in which states and communities can focus to create equitable quality health services for their residents. Good health is key to a happier and more productive community and workforce, which in turn leads to a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Heartland Forward provides data and analysis to:
- inform communities about health care access and outcomes,
- provide tools to enhance workforce performance and participation,
- and manage preventive care and chronic disease.
The Northern Kentucky Atlas was born out of a desire to make data free and easily available to the community with the goal of providing a baseline benchmark to highlight the region’s strengths and opportunities. The Atlas is innovative by moving beyond traditional, static dashboards. It enables BeNKY Growth Partnership to collect, analyze and disseminate data to the community, while also putting that power in the hands of individual users.
Knowledge Center
How to Understand the Wealth-Health Gap in Your Community
Conducting an investigative analysis to understand the wealth-health gap in specific communities requires more than just basic income and health data. It is necessary to consider the various facets of wealth as well as the rates of serious illness and death in specific populations.
Looking Forward: Data as the Foundation for Smart Cities
Cutting edge technology, rapid innovation and integrated data are revolutionizing the way governments serve their constituents. Smart city projects are at the forefront, finding more efficient, effective, and secure ways to design and deliver services.
