Creating a Community Resource to Evaluate Programs and Policies in Cuyahoga County

This case study published by the Actionable Intelligence for Social Policyon describes the the Integrated Data System in Cuyahoga County: the ChildHood Integrated Longitudinal Data system (CHILD). Over a decade ago, Dr. Claudia Coulton, the Lillian F. Harris Professor of Urban Research & Social Change at Case Western Reserve University’s Mandel School of Applied Social Science, started the integrated data system to examine the benefits and limitations of Cuyahoga County’s Invest in Children initiative.  The system now covers children up to 18 years of age living in Cuyaghoga County beginning with the 1992 birth cohort. Data from numerous agencies are linked at the individual level. Data sources include birth certificates, publically subsidized child care, home visiting and early intervention, child abuse and neglect investigations, child welfare placements, juvenile justice filings, TANF, SNAP, Medicaid participation, and public school student records. Additional data sources are added as new agencies being to work with the Center and become interested in seeing their data linked in order to address cross-sector policy issues and program needs.