Community Indicators Consortium Impact Summit 2019

How a society defines its goals and measures directly affects the well-being of its residents. Engaging community members in the task of defining and measuring progress strengthens their democratic capacity.  For communities, broad participation in counts and surveys at a time when trust in institutions is low is a way to exercise democratic rights.  Consistent access to accurate data at the appropriate scale is vital for community indicators to change minds and drive action. Accurate counts or surveys are necessary to give a political, social or economic voice to everyone.

The 2019 Impact Summit will look at what is done in the US, Canada, Australia and elsewhere in the world at the local or regional scale to:

• Encourage people’s participation in data collection efforts, from local surveys to national counts, and insure that everyone is counted
• Collect and share more detailed, disaggregated, in-depth information on groups that have historically been left out by traditional surveys and other data-gathering tools
• Support access to accurate and fair data
• Improve transparency and build trust in science and information
• Shape the presentation and dissemination of data to make it accessible and actionable
• Use data to change minds, reduce inequities, improve community well-being and strengthen democracy