Exploring the Utility of Census Block Group Data in JWB Decision-Making Strategies: Analysis Using 2015 ACS Poverty Data

The Juvenile Welfare Board (JWB) has a long history of using geographically-based risk and protective factors¹ to inform business decisions, as evidenced by the publication of Pinellas Profiles, Community Council Reports, and other cutting-edge community indicator reports and systems. These reports and systems continue to guide community investment, providing for strategic placement of community- and neighborhood-centric services for children and families across Pinellas County. These efforts reflect JWB’s on-going commitment to place-based strategies to complement more traditional programmatic initiatives.

This report builds on a pilot project looking at the feasibility of using data at the census block group level to improve JWB’s decision-making processes. In addition to this narrative providing a summary of the findings and a map book, a large geodatabase with many spatially-referenced datasets was delivered to JWB. This will allow JWB to continue analysis iterative fashion and explore spatial linkages within the business intelligence framework. The analysis differs from previous studies, mainly The Economic Impact of Poverty Report¹ and the Update to the Economic Impact of Poverty Report², in both the granularity of the geography used and population of interest. Data in this report are presented on individual children under 18 in poverty at the census block group level, as opposed to statistics that focused on all individuals, generated at the census tract level.