ConCensus Community Data Collection Project and Tool

In 2014, D3’s Prototype project, ConCensus, had two overarching goals: (1) to deepen our methods of community engagement and (2) learn about the needs and challenges around tools for collecting and accessing place-based primary data. D3 initiated a six-month outreach to organizations to examine how communities currently access data and to identify the types of data that would better support their mission-driven work. From those interviews, we selected two nonprofit organizations, Focus: HOPE and the Warren Conner Development Coalition, to work together with us to design surveys and collect neighborhood-level data.

In parallel, we have begun developing a lightweight tool that makes accessing, visualizing, and sharing data, as well as survey templates, usable by a range of skill sets. When fully developed, the app will integrate the key features of D3’s existing toolbox. Our goal in developing ConCensus was to enable communities to define and lead their own data collection efforts. Consistent with that goal, we found residents’ bottom-up expertise equally valuable as traditional top-down information. At the close of our 6-month Prototype phase, we created this video reflection to share our lessons learned with the Knight Foundation.