NAPC - Social Indicators:
Brief Overview/History
Planning councils have always used social and health indicators as tools for community research, planning, and action to:
- address issues affecting their communities,
- assess the impact of community initiatives,
- shape policy and resource decisions affecting human services, and
- raise community awareness about problems, trends, and how to work together to create solutions.At the 2000 Annual Conference, NAPC decided to explore the possibilities of a national NAPC project on social indicators. Our thought was that NAPC's best contribution to the burgeoning community indicators movement would be to offer our expertise in data collection and analysis to share the tracking of a common set of basic social indicators from all of our communities, reporting the same indicators, measured in the same way, from communities all across the country.
To explore the possibilities, NAPC hosted a 2000 meeting in Washington, DC, November 30 and December 1, bringing together interested NAPC members and national experts on social data and indicators. Our agenda included picking the best minds for ideas and developing a more specific plan of action for an NAPC project. The meeting was very productive and interesting. (Click here for a brief report on that meeting and a list of national experts attending.)NAPC sponsored a Symposium on Social Indicators on April 4th, 2001, just before the national conference in Charleston, West Virginia. This very productive discussion laid groundwork for an exciting new NAPC initiative, which includes the original vision and also builds upon it for increased impact in affecting public policy and community mobilization. Several NAPC committees began gathering information toward the development of ongoing work by NAPC and its members in this area.
Meanwhile, NAPC President Martha Blaine and David Swain participated in a series of national meetings hosted by national indicators expert Marc Miringoff, who then spoke at NAPC's 2002 National Conference about using social indicators to shape national policy.
At the 2002 Conference, the NAPC Social Indicators Report, "From the Bottom Up," edited by Katrina Middleton (Community Services Planning Council - Sacramento), was released and is now available to download as a PDF file. It includes valuable information on indicators and their use; a history of NAPC's involvement up to this point; vision and framework for future efforts; and stories from members about how their communities are using social indicators as a tool for action to improve community conditions and services affecting people's lives.
The 2002 conference featured a roundtable led by Judy Rothbaum (Oklahoma City) on the proposed NAPC set of core indicators. Then Katrina Middleton and David Swain led a conference session to review NAPC's work up to this point, exchange information and experiences among members working in this area, and plan NAPC's future work. NAPC committed to the development of a multi-faceted national social indicators project.
NAPC's indicators team worked to define a common set of social and health indicators, and then to narrow these down to a short list of key indicators. At the
2003 conference this list of proposed key indicators was presented, NAPC's work up to that point was reviewed, and possibilities for a national project were discussed. For details about that group presentation, including speakers' presentation highlights (especially the presentation by NAPC Indicators leader Katrina Middleton, summarizing the work to date and outlining possible next steps), visit the 2003 Conference page.In 2004, NAPC's continued strong interest in social indicators took three major directions:
socialindicators.com. Andrulis' national indicators and NAPC's core indicators were highlighted for America's 100 largest cities plus communities where NAPC's member organizations are located. Leadership and substantial support for this initiative were provided by NAPC Board member John Begala, Executive Director, and the Center for Community Solutions (formerly the Federation for Community Planning) in Cleveland, Ohio. NAPC accepted an invitation to become a member of the new national Community Indicators Consortium (David Swain was one of the four founding co-chairs) and co-sponsor a major international conference on community indicators in Reno, Nevada, March 10-13, 2004. NAPC coordinated the planning process for a series of sessions on social indicators for this conference, and NAPC sponsored Jennifer James (keynote speaker at NAPC's 2003 conference) as a keynote speaker. NAPC Board member Fred Butler, Executive Director of the Community Action Network (CAN) in Austin, Texas, provided leadership for NAPC's indicators team working on the conference.NAPC worked with Dennis Andrulis to create a major new social indicators website --
The 2004 NAPC National Conference (May 6-8 in Norfolk, Virginia) featured sessions on NAPC's indicators work and planning for next steps.
In 2005, NAPC and CIC worked together to sponsor a joint 2005 conference in Washington, D.C., May 12-14, at the Hotel Washington.
NAPC's indicators team leader Ben Warner (Deputy Director, JCCI - Jacksonville, FL; Board Member, NAPC) made a presentation about NAPC's indicators initiative and members' work in communities around the country.
The NAPC Leading Social Indicators: Measuring What's Important; Making a Difference (indicators as tools for community action) was presented by author Ben Warner (Associate Director, JCCI - Jacksonville, FL; NAPC Board Member/Indicators Chair).
Indicators Report PowerPoint Presentation
In 2005, NAPC co-sponsored CIC's national conference December 1-3, in Burlington, Vermont. For more information about that conference, visit the CIC website
In 2006, NAPC's indicators work was featured in a presentation by indicators team leader Ben Warner at an international community planning conference in Toronto co-sponsored by NAPC and the Social Planning Network of Ontario. Also in 2006, Ben Warner prepared and presented an updated version of the Indicators Report for 2006.
In 2007, Ed Pulido became chair of NAPC Social Indicators Committee. Please contact him with questions or suggestions, or to become involved in NAPC activities related to social indicators: epulido@unitedwayokc.org.
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