WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Community Data Platforms, Inc. (CDP) is making an offer that the leaders of America’s smartest communities will find hard to refuse. With support from Schmidt Futures, CDP will help three communities answer pressing questions while also creating a data analytics resource to enhance local decision-making.
“While C-suite executives regularly rely on data analytics to inform critical decisions, community leaders who manage governments, economic development organizations, and philanthropies tell us that the lack of access to data at the community level is a massive hurdle to addressing their policy challenges. Consequently, critical community-based decisions are too often made on anecdotes or with limited, incomplete data. Community Data Platforms solves this problem,” says Alan Worden, Founder, and CEO.
The deliverable is a localized community data platform loaded with automatically updated, reliably aggregated data, advanced analytics, and – most importantly – compelling visualizations to bring insights to life. Community leaders can use it to make evidence-based decisions around their most pressing questions. Three selected communities will receive catalyst grants of $80,000 each, with additional funding sourced by the local community.
“Local governments around the world have to make important planning and prioritization decisions, but they often do so with very limited data. Data analytics at the community level represents a smart investment,” says James Savage, a data scientist and manager at Schmidt Futures.
CDP has developed a variety of data rich methodologies in several policy areas including economic development, education, affordable housing, tourism, public health, climate change, and philanthropic fundraising. Once launched, local community data platforms are constantly updated and become richer and more valuable over time, ultimately becoming essential community assets.
“Community Data Platforms has demonstrated an impressive ability to integrate a wide-ranging set of disparate data sources, pull out the most useful pieces of information, and convey them to decision-makers quite beautifully,” says Savage. “This approach has the potential to reframe many local policy questions and lead to significantly better outcomes.”
Each awardee will have critical pressing questions answered. Questions are either aspirational – “Which local business are likely to grow the fastest?” or the sorts of questions that keep leaders up at night – “How can we truly understand the supply, demand, and preferences around affordable housing?” The selection process will consider the commitment of local leadership, the availability of some local funding, the significance of impact, and the presence of other community institutions willing to collaborate on supporting a community data platform.
To learn more about this initiative please visit CommunityDataPlatforms.com/opencall. Applicants should submit interest forms by March 6th and grants will be awarded by mid-March.
About Community Data Platforms
Community Data Platforms is on a mission to help leaders in business, economic development, philanthropy, and government build smarter and stronger communities through the power of data analytics. To learn more, visit communitydataplatforms.com.
About Schmidt Futures
Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative, founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, that seeks to improve societal outcomes through the thoughtful development of emerging science and technologies that can benefit humanity. As a venture facility for public benefit, they invest risk capital in the most promising ideas and exceptional people across disciplines. Learn more at schmidtfutures.com.