PlaceWise: Turning Local Data Into Community Action

PlaceWise works in the places of change. PlaceWise meets communities where they are, helps identify barriers that are preventing them from supporting data-informed decisions, and creates an action plan to address those barriers. We have a robust, experienced team of technical assistance specialists, data scientists, survey methodologists, and policy experts who are ready to help translate data into actionable findings.

PlaceWise experts work directly with communities and our national place-based partners to address four challenges:

• Data Precision Issues: Population data often lacks local detail and timeliness, making it seem irrelevant to stakeholders. PlaceWise identifies available data and data gaps; helps organize that data; and bridges community needs and support for lasting change.
• Resource Constraints: Limited funding, staffing, and technology hinder effective data analysis and application for many communities. PlaceWise provides technical assistance through a versatile team of researchers, data scientists, and communications specialists to identify, analyze, and translate data.
• Fragmented Learning: Communities and local initiatives often have limited opportunities to share experiences, lessons learned, and emerging practices with one another. PlaceWise supports cross-site learning and knowledge sharing so communities are not working in isolation and can collectively learn, adapt, and build on one another's successes.
• Limited Community Involvement: Minimal community participation in data interpretation leads to misaligned solutions. Communities need support in both using and translating data to best utilize it for their unique needs.

PlaceWise does not do research on communities; PlaceWise partners with communities to solve vexing problems that require better data solutions. In partnership with communities, we get to a better understanding of needs and then map those needs to existing data (and identify data gaps). From that point we support navigating roadblocks to data systems and data collection.

PlaceWise prioritizes

• Community Partnerships by supporting local place-based initiatives through data infrastructure, shared measures, learning, and decision support.
• National Partnerships by supporting national networks and intermediaries through survey design, measurement frameworks, and data tools.
• Cross-Site Learning by supporting learning across the places we work through communities of practice, theories of change development, and fostering cross-project sharing.

Good data systems need community support and co-creation to be truly representative. PlaceWise works with a solutions mindset, building our teams around the expertise to meet the challenge. We also understand that data collection, access, use, and dissemination are a continuous improvement process. We are transparent with our partners about how we can do things better next time, and always share what we learn with others.

We are already helping communities across the country find their voices. 

PlaceWise supports learning and knowledge sharing across community-directed initiatives in places like Chicago, Little Rock, Salinas, and Birmingham, helping connect local experiences to broader learning, data use, and systems-change efforts. These efforts span early childhood development, education, workforce pathways, housing, youth development, economic mobility, and more.

PlaceWise also collaborates with national place-based organizations and networks to strengthen data use, shared measurement, learning, and knowledge sharing across communities. We are currently supporting partners in identifying data relevant to their projects and improving measures and data collection practices to improve data quality. Additional information about PlaceWise projects and partnerships will be shared as new initiatives launch.

As part of our data asset mapping process, we first work with our partners to understand their goals. These important conversations help us understand data needs and they often lead to conversations around how best to measure particular topics. We work with our partners to assess whether new measures need to be created, or if existing ones suffice. We can also do literature scans for our clients to ensure their measures align with the field.