| Notes |
NNIP’s Indianapolis partner is The Polis Center at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Through collaboration, engagement, research, and technology, The Polis Center builds capacity, creates actionable information, and develops knowledge platforms and place-based solutions that lead to healthier and resilient communities. From its beginnings in 1989, Polis embraced a mission of linking university and community expertise through partnerships and projects that would create and apply information for the common good. When acquiring GIS, the center recognized its potential to engage communities in participatory projects, and in 1995 Polis launched the Social Assets and Vulnerabilities Indicators system, or SAVI, as a signature project.
SAVI’s mission today is to help organizations make data-informed decisions by providing reliable data about communities, creating actionable information, developing tools for analysis, and building capacity to use data effectively. SAVI is created and managed by The Polis Center in partnership with the United Way of Central Indiana, as community trustee.
In the first part of this session, Sharon Kandris, associate director of Polis and director of SAVI, will introduce the Center and SAVI. Kelly Davila, senior research analyst at Polis, will describe innovations in using data to inform planning and evaluation in four major initiatives in which Polis is helping its partners build or expand a data informed culture:
1. United Way Data Integration Plan, is an initiative to support United Way of Central Indiana as it shifts its funding allocation and decision making to a data- informed process. These efforts include integrating client-level data from more than 80 nonprofit agencies, creating an online community assessment tool and data dashboards, and building data literacy of its agencies.
2. Great Families 2020, an initiative funded by a Social Innovation Fund grant, uses a two-generation approach, to focus on early childhood education and family economic stability. In partnership with the IU Public Policy Institute, Polis is supporting the evaluation and helping local agencies use data to inform their process and adjust programming.
3. Indiana Partnership for Healthy Communities is a collaboration between The Polis Center, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, and the Indiana CTSI Community Health Engagement Program that supports hospitals in their
community health improvement planning efforts. Most recently, the team conducted a community health needs assessment for Parkview Health System and guided its selection of implementation strategies.
4. IndyVitals.org measures the health and sustainability of neighborhood areas in Indianapolis. It was conceived as a means to measure the long-term neighborhood-level impact of the work of Plan 2020, the city planning initiative for the Indianapolis Bicentennial. A second goal was to make comparative data about neighborhood strengths and challenges transparent so that community partners can coordinate actions.
In the second part of this session, David Bodenhamer, executive director of The Polis Center, will facilitate a discussion among the audience and a panel of partner organizations that are embracing the move toward a data informed culture. Panelists will reflect on their experiences and challenges in this process, how their organizations are using data to inform their decisions, and the effects of democratizing data.
Presenter:
Kelly Davila, Senior Research Analyst, The Polis Center at IUPUI. Kelly has a background in public policy research and urban planning. Her major areas of emphasis include spatial analysis, spatial statistics, public policy analysis, and demographically-informed policy research. Kelly holds a Master of Science degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Iowa, where she attended as a Dean’s Graduate Research Fellow. She also holds a Masters of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Southern Mississippi, where she studied the social, political, and geographical indicators of community disinvestment through the lens of mobility. Her experience includes a combination of academic research, applied social science (including archaeology, museum curation, and oral history), and transportation planning for city government. She’s a native of San Antonio, Texas and an alumna of the University of Texas at Austin.
Moderator:
David Bodenhamer, Executive Director, The Polis Center at IUPUI. David is the founder of The Polis Center and Professor of History at IUPUI. Prior to his appointment, he was Professor of History and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Southern Mississippi (1976-1988). During his tenure, the Polis Center has developed more than 500 projects and a wide array of local, national, and international partnerships, with grant and contract funding of over $75 million. He has served as strategic and organizational consultant to universities, government agencies, and not- for-profit and faith-based organizations across the U.S. and in Europe. An active
researcher, Bodenhamer is author or editor of twelve books and has published over 30 journal articles and chapters in books. He has made more than 75 presentations, including numerous keynote addresses, to audiences on four continents on topics ranging from legal and constitutional history to the use of GIS and advanced information technologies in academic and community-based research. Bodenhamer’s work in the new field of spatial humanities includes co-authoring The Spatial Humanities: GIS and the Future of Humanities Scholarship (Indiana University Press, 2010) and Deep Maps and Spatial Narratives (Indiana University Press, 2015), in addition to a dozen published essays.
Panelists:
Brad Beaubien, Administrator, Division of Long Range Planning, Department of Metropolitan Development, City of Indianapolis. Brad is an award-winning certified urban planner who serves as the Administrator for Long-Range City Planning for the Department of Metropolitan Development at the City of Indianapolis, where he is responsible for leading the long-range planning functions of the City. He holds a graduate degree in Urban and Regional Planning degree from Ball State University and a Master of Natural Resources degree from Oregon State. He is a member of the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series Class XXXVIII as well as the Indianapolis Business Journal's Forty Under 40 Class of 2013, a recognition given to Indianapolis business and professional leaders who have achieved success and excelled in their field before the age of 40. He was honored as one of Citizens' (Energy Group) 125 Neighborhood Leaders, and his work is also the recipient of several awards, including a Hoosier Planning Award, two National Planning Awards from the American Planning Association, a Cultural Vision Award from NUVO Newsweekly, and a Digital Education Achievement Award from the Center for Digital Education.
Sue Ehinger, PhD, Chief Experience Officer, Parkview Health. Sue was named Chief Experience Officer of Parkview Health in 2014. Sue previously served as President of Parkview Hospital and Affiliates as well as the Executive Vice President and COO of Parkview Hospital. In addition, Sue served as Chief Quality Officer and CIO for the health system. Sue began her career in healthcare as a nuclear medicine technologist and then became program director for the St. Joseph Hospital/Parkview Hospital Radiography Program. She joined Parkview in 1993, responsible for quality improvement and customer service. Today Sue provides leadership, direction and administration of operations and planning to the areas of human resources, diversity and inclusion, community health improvement, innovation and education. She is responsible for the enterprise-wide cultural and operational transformation to create a world-class organizational experience for patients, families, employees, and providers.
Denise Luster, Vice President Impact Research and Analytics, United Way of Central Indiana Denise joined United Way’s Research Department in 1998. As Vice President of Impact Research and Analytics, Denise helps guide the implementation of high quality, responsive, and timely activities that support the internal operations and program functions of United Way. Denise has experience in the design and execution of evaluation strategies, social research, and program evaluation, including outcomes measurement. Denise is responsible for advanced research, mapping, analysis and management related to GIS system applications and for the design and implementation of community, county and neighborhood assessments, analysis and problem-solving objectives by use of appropriate research methods and procedures. Denise manages the Efforts to Outcomes (ETO) database team, which oversees the data reporting for Center for Working Families and supervises community based research for the organization. Denise consults with United Way of Central Indiana staff and outside organizations to develop surveys, questionnaires and statistical analysis. Denise also provides training and technical assistance to residents and community groups in the collection and use of community data. Denise earned a Bachelor’s degree in Public Affairs with a concentration in Management. She holds an MBA in Finance from Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
James Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, John H Boner Community Center. James is CEO of the John Boner Neighborhood Center, which provides tools, programs, and initiatives for residents of the Near Eastside to improve themselves and the neighborhood they call home. This includes afterschool programs at five local public schools, homeless prevention services, the Center for Working Families, adult day services, senior socialization, and wellness programs. In addition, the Center owns and manages 221 units of housing for at-risk families, seniors, and those who are mobility-impaired or homeless. The Center is also the neighborhood’s convening organization for the creation of a resident-led, grassroots, quality-of-life plan for the community. As part of the 2012 Super Bowl Legacy Project, the Center raised, built, and currently manages the Boner Fitness and Learning Center which provides tools for change and growth in health, fitness and education, and houses the Indianapolis Youth Education Town and a full-service membership based fitness zone. In 2015, the Near Eastside of Indianapolis received the ten-year federal designation as a Promise Zone. Since that time, the Center has utilized this designation to secured $120 million in grant awards from 11 different federal agencies for 26 different partner organizations. James is a passionate advocate for social justice, urban renewal, and comprehensive community development. He is a graduate of Ball State University with a double major in Social Work and Psychology and received his Master’s Degree in Social Work with “Highest Distinction” from Indiana University. |