Vital Signs 11

After an 18-month strategic planning process, Vital Signs 11, a comprehensive statistical portrait of Baltimore and its neighborhoods, marks a new stage for reporting on "quality of life" indicators. The 11th edition of the report, published by the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance—Jacob France Institute (BNIA-JFI), tracks more than 150 indicators, many of these new to this edition, to show those issues that are important to all of the city and its residents. These present a detailed portrait of Baltimore and how it changes annually. The report is available now on BNIA-JFI's website.

Seema D. Iyer, associate director of the Jacob France Institute at the University of Baltimore's Merrick School of Business, said that the release of Vital Signs 11 has immediate and long-term value for those who are working to improve the city.

"Vital Signs will resonate on almost every topic that is on the forefront of Baltimore's neighborhoods," Iyer said. "From vacant housing to walkability to the arts economy, we listened to and worked with communities to make data available that can help improve the quality of life in every neighborhood."

Iyer said the report makes extensive use of "hyperlocal" data not otherwise available—data that is unique to Baltimore such as the number of Enoch Pratt Free Library cardholders and crime calls for service from the Baltimore City Police Department.

"This report represents a true alliance of data providers, data users and data experts in Baltimore," Iyer said. "We developed relationships with more city and state agencies and area universities to integrate data in a way that is seamless and easily accessible to communities."

Vital Signs 11 highlights both the long-standing and now emerging issues that are important to understanding Baltimore’s unique neighborhoods.