Congreso seeks to map the clients we work with and the communities in which they live to 1) assess risk factors in our community and 2) enhance strategies based on these needs to support our target population on the journey to economic self-sufficiency and well-being. To achieve this we will examine housing, economic, demographic, and social data available via the Census Bureau and other open data sources along with client data from Congreso and Pan American Academy Charter School (PAACS), founded by Congreso in 2008 and located adjacent to our campus. We will examine overlaps and gaps in services for clients served by Congreso and PAACS and use the data analysis to close these gaps and maximize impact. By analyzing data gaps and overlaps, Congreso will have a deeper understanding of 1) where to focus efforts and 2) how to prioritize outreach of Congreso’s services to PAACS families.
Congreso uses the Efforts-to-Outcomes (ETO) database system to collect individual client information. Congreso collects client demographic data during the intake process such as address, gender, race, age, income, and primary language. After enrollment, client records include details of services they receive and client enrollment records across programs. The data is available for multiple years in case there is interest in doing a five- or ten-year data pull. Congreso also has access to demographic (address, grade, etc.) data for PAACS students, which is tracked through the PowerSchool database system. For the most recently completed fiscal year (FY18), Congreso served 17,567 unique clients and PAACS enrolled 738 students; over the past five years, Congreso served over 61,000 unique clients. Congreso has its own Data & Evaluation department and the staff from this team will be able export data as needed for this project.
Congreso seeks to create maps with layers of community risk factors and status of economic self-sufficiency and well-being determinants to discover insights that may have been previously overlooked. The primary areas of interest are housing, economic, demographic, and social. Under each category, we expect one or more maps that showcase the most compelling open source data with Congreso and PAACS client data points on the map. Housing, the first category, is crucial for both one’s well-being and ability to attain economic self-sufficiency, and economic data will be tracked for the same reason. The data will also provide insight on future and predicated gentrification to inform long-term agency planning. Demographic data is also important to include in this analysis due to Congreso’s mission to serve clients in predominantly Latino neighborhoods. Social data will comprise of education levels as well as indicators of well-being, which Congreso defines as health, housing, and parenting.
Congreso will first utilize the maps and reports to determine whether Congreso clients and PAACS students and their families reside in the same and/or similar neighborhoods. As we aim to deepen our impact on the families at PAACS, it is critical to ensure that families whose children are students at PAACS are availed of services at Congreso that would further enable them to achieve economic self-sufficiency and well-being. Additionally, we hope to discover any potential gaps in service—for example, areas that may have populations who would benefit from our services, but are not currently enrolled in Congreso programs. Congreso also plans to create a community needs assessment to further our understanding of the services our clients and surrounding community need most and how we are fulfilling that need. The visualizations and data from this project will give us insight into the neighborhoods that would most benefit from this assessment.
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