These Integrated Public Data Systems Will Get Us Better Measures of Well-Being! Or Maybe Not.

Local and state governments are rapidly building ways to connect data from across their broad enterprises: records from Medicaid, social services, the schools, courts, and much more. By the Annie E. Casey’s Foundation’s estimate, nearly half the US population already lives in a jurisdiction operating one of these data trusts, with the potential to create much richer public indicators of the health and wealth of our communities. What might those indicators look like? And how can we advocate for them?



This panel will highlight examples of where linked data *has* helped to create new indicators – and discuss the different (dis)incentives for transparency and public indicator work within these public data trusts that may require advocacy from CIC members to overcome.