NNIP Selects Laura McKieran from Community Information Now as the Network Steward of the Year

The National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership has selected Laura McKieran, Executive Director of Community Information: Now, as the 2021 winner of the Network Steward of the Year Award. The award was created in September 2016 to recognize an NNIP Partner staff member who goes above and beyond expectations to strengthen the connectivity among Partners, increase knowledge sharing, and raise the profile of the network.

Laura is a true steward of the NNIP network, frequently contributing to peer learning through chiming in on the listserve or talking one-on-one with fellow partners. In 2020, Laura developed a template for calculating the "lives saved during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders," which she graciously shared with the network via a webinar after developing detailed instructions. Other NNIP partners adapted the infographics for their own cities, and the Drexel University Urban Health Collaborative also created versions for cities in the Big Cities Health Coalition. The infographics continued to be cited by the press well into Summer 2020.  Laura's support enabled NNIP partners to share positive messaging during challenging times for their communities.

Laura participated in field development and peer learning through three cross-site projects in 2020: for Census 2020, Data for COVID-19 Response and Recovery, and Engaging Youth for COVID-19 Response and Recovery. Her thinking on "What it Takes for a Community to be Good at Data" has inspired the network to deepen its thinking on capacity and inspired Urban Institute to develop its own capacity framework as part of the brief on "Invest in Data Capacity for Community Change." Laura has contributed to the network in countless ways over the years; there is no doubt she has made NNIP a stronger learning network and we thank her for being so generous with her time and expertise.