Frequently Asked Questions
- Where can I go to download all the neighborhood data?
- Does NNIP provide funding for local partners?
- How does my organization become a NNIP partner for my area?
- There is already a partner in my city, can my organization still join?
- Can my organization become an NNIP partner for multiple areas?
- What role does the Urban Institute play in setting local agendas?
There is no one single dataset available that has the data that all our partners collect. Many partners do make some of their local data available for download, when possible on their own websites. NNIP as a partnership is working on a “shared indicators” system to create a standard set of indicators that every partner will strive to collect. Please see the cross-site project page on Shared Indicators for more information on this effort. Data for selected national datasets are available through the Urban Institute National Data Repository.
No, each partner must be able to obtain and sustain their own funding sources. Partners receive funding from a variety of sources including contract revenue, government agencies at all levels, and local or national foundations. Partners may receive a small amount funding for participation in a cross-site project.
There are several steps to becoming a NNIP partner, beginning with sending a statement of interest to Kathy Pettit, the Co-Director of NNIP at kpettit@urban.org. The next step is for your organization to get to know better how NNIP works and for the NNIP leadership to learn more about your organization and its work with neighborhood data systems and building capacity in local neighborhoods. For the other steps of the process please visit the page on becoming a partner.
Organization who are interested in participating in NNIP from a city or metro area that already has an NNIP partner should reach out to the existing partner to discuss the potential for collaboration. A number of our partner cities have multiple organizations that are involved in the NNIP network.
The geographic coverage of NNIP partners varies. Some partners are organizations with just a few staff and only focus on the city in which they are located. Other partners are much larger and focus on multiple jurisdictions. In a few cases, the regional council of governments is part of the partner, extending their focus to the metropolitan area. However, because the nature of the work of NNIP involves neighborhoods and building relationships with organizations and residents in the community, we believe it is important that NNIP partner sites are not operated from locations remote from the communities that they are serving.
The Urban Institute, as the NNIP Coordinator, does not play any role in setting local agendas for NNIP Partners. Local agendas are determined by the needs of the community and the strengths of the partner organization. However, to join NNIP, partners must demonstrate that they are involved in more than one issue area.