The OD offered the following Guest Viewpoint from the Community Foundation's Peggy O'Shea:
In 2009, The Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties, Mohawk Valley EDGE and United Way of the Valley and Greater Utica Area decided to invest in community knowledge.
Over the course of several conversations, we realized that we all had a great need for information about our two-county area. The three organizations began working together under the name Leadership Alliance for a Vital Community (LAVC).
Rather than conduct separate studies, we collaborated on a community indicators project with full support from our respective boards. For this project the Center for Governmental Research (CGR), a leading indicators consultant, collected data in the areas of arts and culture, demographics, economy, education, financial self-sufficiency, health, housing, public safety, technology and transportation. In October 2009, we were joined by more than 100 community leaders who reviewed the indicators and provided us with insight and guidance. This project is meant to benefit their work, too. The information gathered is now available at www.hocindicators.org, and has the potential to be a powerful tool for all of us to use on behalf of the community.
The most frequent question asked about this project is, “Why?” The short answer is that each of our organizations can use the information in the project to inform our work, but there is a more valuable investment. We live in a community that examines itself often – an important collaborative health study was recently released, and we can all think of others. These studies are wonderfully detailed in their particular area, yet they do not always provide an overall picture. A community indicators project provides a broader snapshot of our overall quality of life. Read more here.
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