|
Page Update: 10/17/2007
Site Update: 7/31/2006
Version: 6.1.1
Disclaimer
|
|
 |
|
Using Local Information for Community Change
|
| 3rd Annual SAVI Users Conference |
Thank you to all who participated in the 2007 SAVI Users Conference on October 2. Approximately 200 people attended the conference, including representatives from nearly 150 organizations.
We updated this page to include copies of the PowerPoint presentations given by all of our presenters. Just click the PDF link next to the title of the presentation.
We look forward to seeing you at the 2008 conference!
|
| Conference Guide |
|
|
| Partners and Sponsors |
| Partners |
|
| | Sponsors |
| Click here for a list of sponsors providing general SAVI funding. |
|
| Agenda |
| Agenda.pdf |
| Opening Session (9:30 – 10:30)
|
| Keynote Address: Why Does Place Matter? |
Speaker: David Bodenhamer
We all live in some place, and place often is a primary source of our identity. Place and space, although closely related, are not the same, yet in many of our decisions about services, audiences, and needs we speak exclusively in terms of space or location. SAVI is a spatial and demographic information system, but the real key to its success will be how well we use it to understand the importance of place in Central Indiana--and then how we use a sense of place to develop more effective responses to community issues.
|
What’s New in SAVI?  |
Speaker: Sharon Kandris
In this session, you will see a demonstration of the newest tools on the SAVI website and preview what is to come in SAVI using Google maps and search tools that will make SAVI much faster and easier to use. |
| Morning Breakout Sessions (10:30 – 11:30) |
| You will have the option to attend one of the breakout sessions in the morning. When you register, choose one of the following sessions: |
| Session 1: Using SAVI to Understand Public Health |
Facilitator: Karen Frederickson Comer
Presenters:
Mary Beth Riner, DNS
Presentation: Distribution of community resources and health disparities
Christina Mushi-Brunt, PhD
Presentation: "Considering community context in health knowledge research"
Sarah Wiehe, MD, PhD
Presentation: "A population-based study of context and health in Indianapolis"
This breakout session will explore the benefits of considering the relationships between people, health, and place. We will examine this issue from both a community perspective and a research perspective and provide examples of how local, spatially-enabled community information is being used to advance public health outreach and research in Central Indiana. |
| Session 2: Beyond SAVI: Using Google Earth and Google Maps to Serve Nonprofits
|
Presenter: Neil Devadasan, Ed Stoddard, and Jay Colbert
In this session, you will learn how to use Google Earth (and other Internet tools) to map your own data for purposes of raising awareness, educating target audiences, supporting advocacy efforts, and more. Topics include: Google Earth; Google Maps; World Wind by NASA; creating points, lines, and areas; integrating SAVI data; and example applications of these tools for nonprofit uses.
|
| Session 3: Using SAVI for Human Services Planning
|
Facilitator: Sharon Kandris
Presenters:
LeeAnn Harris, Boys and Girls Clubs of Indianapolis
Presentation: "Boys and Girls Clubs Uses SAVI for Successful Grant Application"
Michele Goodrich, YMCA of Greater Indianapolis
Presentation: "YMCA Uses SAVI for Strategic Planning"
Angie Stapleton, Girls Inc. of Indianapolis
Presentation: "Girls Inc. of Indianapolis Uses SAVI for Community Assessment"
Using local, spatial data is invaluable to planning for services. It allows human service providers and planners to consider the geographic and socio-economic context in which its services are administered, target programming, and identify needs of target populations. This session demonstrates how SAVI has been used effectively by several Central Indiana nonprofit organizations for strategic planning, location analysis, grant requests, and needs assessment.
|
| Lunch and Networking (11:30 – 12:30) |
| Lunch is available for $10, which will be collected at the conference (only cash and checks, payable to Indiana University). Use this opportunity to network with other users and visiting speakers from across the nation. |
| Using Local Information for Community Change: Stories from Across the Nation (12:30 – 2:30) |
| National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership: National Trends and Examples Using Local Data
|
Speaker: Kathryn Pettit
The National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership is a collaboration between the Urban Institute and local partners in 29 cities to further the development and use of neighborhood-level information in local policymaking and community building. SAVI is part of this movement to provide easy-to-use data across many topics to assist organizations that are working to engage residents and improve community conditions. This presentation will first describe the recent trends in the indicator field nationally. It will then outline the principles and activities of the NNIP partnership, and give specific examples on the use of data in education, safety and housing. It will close with some overall lessons from the collective NNIP experience about using information for change. |
| Information - a Powerful Agent for Resident-Led Community Change: Nashville
|
Speaker: John Stern
Empowering residents and neighborhoods to significantly and meaningfully impact the future of their communities requires open access to reputable and understandable neighborhood-level information. This presentation will illustrate how neighborhoods in Nashville, Tennessee use local information to support neighborhood engagement by:
- Helping to identify and quantify issues of concern to each community (e.g., crime, dropout rates, etc.);
- Developing geographically focused, action oriented strategic plans; and
- Improving neighborhood and community-wide decision making and actions.
The Neighborhoods Resource Center in Nashville is the leader in utilizing Geographic Information Systems to provide local data and mapping resources that help neighborhoods, and the agencies that support them, to develop a better understanding of their community that otherwise would not be possible. Whoever said a picture [or map] is worth a thousand words was wrong - when it is created and presented in a meaningful manner, that map is worth a lot more!
Founded in 1997, Neighborhoods Resource Center is Nashville's and middle Tennessee's expert on resident-led, neighborhood-focused community change initiatives. Their triad of complementary services includes neighborhood organizing assistance, leadership training and capacity building workshops, and Neighborhood Technology and Information Services Network.
|
| Using Local Information to Improve School Readiness: Des Moines
|
Speaker: Charlie Bruner
At the state, community, and federal levels, there is a great deal of interest and policy attention to developing early childhood programs and systems that can improve children’s readiness for kindergarten and success in school. While young children and their families usually rely upon supports within their immediate neighborhoods for much of the care and nurturing of their children, there has been relatively little examination of where programs and resources need to be focused on a geographic level. Drawing upon census and administrative data available within Des Moines, Iowa, this presentation shows both the neighborhoods where children are most at risk of starting school behind, what specific factors contribute to this risk, and how the use of this neighborhood data can be used to spur action. Included in this analysis is health data (low birthweight, elevated blood lead levels), early care and education data (preschool and child care participation), education data (kindergarten entry assessments, early elementary absences, fourth grade reading scores), and social and economic data (single parenting, adolescent parenting, income and poverty). |
| Using Local Information to Analyze Housing Foreclosures
|
Speaker: Michael Barndt and Todd Clausen
Milwaukee has a "cool" housing market - housing values are generally reasonable and gentrification is unusual. But low incomes still limit access to affordable housing by many residents - especially those wishing to own a home. Easy access to mortgages in the last decade has attracted many whose income placed them at risk. But the risk was intensified by the practices of sub-prime lenders. Now even the lenders are in trouble and the larger financial community has withdrawn support of sub-prime lenders - recognizing risks that had been present all along.
The Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee conducted a study of 10 years of mortgage foreclosure data from 1991 to 2002. That analysis highlighted the effects of de-regulation in mortgage lending. Foreclosures doubled from the beginning to the end of that period. Now the Center is analyzing data from 2002 through 2006 - as well as tax foreclosures since 2000. Foreclosures have again increased dramatically. The data permits identification of properties threatened with foreclosure as well as those where the foreclosure process is completed. Links to property file data allow profiles of the property characteristics, tax delinquency, ownership patterns before and after foreclosure, and sales and assessment value. The data is available by address, but most of the analysis uses mapping programs to statistically "smooth" the data, creating contour maps similar to weather maps.
The mission of the Nonprofit Center Data Center program is to provide data and mapping support to nonprofit and other organizations working to address problems in Milwaukee neighborhoods. Neighborhood based organizations are interested in the data to assess the impact of the rise in foreclosures upon entire neighborhoods. Credit counseling and legal services agencies view the issue in terms of support of individuals who may be able to act before a foreclosure action results in the loss of a home. A coalition of organizations has formed STOPP - Stop Predatory Practices - to address public policy and educational options.
|
| Stories of Data Use Before, During and After Katrina: New Orleans
|
Speaker: Allison Plyer
When the federal levees broke, leaving 80% of New Orleans underwater in the hours after Katrina, the Community Data Center's 33,000 data points about New Orleans neighborhoods became instantly historical. Fortunately, the Data Center's strong reputation in the community, and seven years of experience in acquiring and presenting data about New Orleans, positioned the organization as the most trusted resource going forward for data about the recovery. Statistics published by the Data Center are now being used at multiple levels, by neighborhood groups trying to understand the patterns of repopulation, by public health planners trying to decide where to place mobile clinics, media including the New York Times and NPR, and by policymakers at the city, state and federal levels. This presentation will include many real examples of data use by a variety of stakeholders, and share lessons learned in the disaster that can apply to the role of data intermediaries across the nation preparing for and responding to disasters. |
| Afternoon Breakout Sessions (2:45 – 3:30) Using Local Information For… |
| Following the session “Stories from Across the Nation,” you will have the option to attend a breakout session that investigates one of the topics in more depth. Each session will be facilitated by a local sponsoring organization and will explore local implications and how SAVI as a local information resource can help Central Indiana address these issues. When you register, choose one of the following sessions: |
| Session 1: …Neighborhood Engagement |
|
Partnering Organization: Great Indy Neighborhoods, a partnership between the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), The City of Indianapolis, and Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center
Facilitators: Andy Fraizer (Indianapolis Mayor's Office) and Marc McAleavey (INRC)
Resource Person: John Stern
|  |
| Session 2: …Early Childhood School Readiness
|
|
Partnering Organization: Success by Six, a partnership between United Way of Central Indiana, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and The City of Indianapolis
Facilitators: Ted Maple and Bob Cross (United Way of Central Indiana)
Resource Person: Charlie Bruner
|  |
| Session 4: Emergency Response |
|
Partnering Organization: Indiana Department of Homeland Security
Facilitators: Manuela Johnson (Indiana Department of Homeland Security, IDHS) and Dave Coats (The Polis Center at IUPUI)
Resource Person: Alison Plyer
|  |
| Closing Session (3:30 – 4:00) Actions for Central Indiana |
| In this closing session, facilitators will reflect on the discussions in the afternoon breakout sessions and propose actions for Central Indiana. Reports from each session will allow conference attendees to hear summaries of the dialogue in sessions they did not attend. |
| Speaker Bios |
Dr. Michael Barndt
Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI |
Dr. Michael Barndt received his PhD in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University. He served for 29 years on the Urban Studies faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, including three years as chair of the program. He served as coordinator of the Data Center program from 1999 through 2006. He is now working as an Analyst for the center on a reduced schedule.
In 1991, he assisted with the founding of the Data Center program. The program offers GIS and data resources to local nonprofit organizations in the Milwaukee region. The program is affiliated with the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, acts as a distribution source for U.S. Census information and collaborates with the City of Milwaukee, the University of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Public Schools, the Annie E. Casey Foundations and others in this work.
Michael has written and presented on a wide variety of topics relevant to neighborhood use of information and technology: public participation GIS (PPGIS), community networking and information systems, comprehensive local data clearinghouse systems and methods of spatial analysis. Applied research at the Nonprofit Center has included collaboration with local organizations assessing issues in community health, crime, housing, education, population trends and community asset networks. |
David J. Bodenhamer
Executive Director, The Polis Center at IUPUI
Indianapolis, IN |
David J. Bodenhamer is founding Executive Director of The Polis Center, a multidisciplinary research unit of 25 fulltime staff members at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. He is responsible for establishing the Center's mission and goals and for securing the necessary human and financial resources to accomplish them. During his tenure, the Center has developed over 500 projects and a wide array of partnerships, with grant and contract funding of over $55 million.
In addition, the Center has expanded its programmatic focus from Indianapolis and Central Indiana to state, regional, national, and international partnerships and projects.
An active researcher and full professor of history, Bodenhamer is author or editor of eight books, including The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis and The Main Stem: the History and Architecture of North Meridian Street, and has written over 30 journal articles and chapters in books. He has made over 100 presentations to audiences on five continents on the use of GIS and advanced information technologies in academic and community-based research and has served as strategic and organizational consultant to universities, government agencies, and not-for-profit and faith-based organizations across the U.S. and in Europe. |
Charles Bruner
Executive Director, Child and Family Policy Center
Des Moines, IA |
Charles Bruner serves as Executive Director of the Child and Family Policy Center. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University, and received his B.A. from Macalester College . He served twelve years as a state legislator in Iowa.
Through the Child and Family Policy Center, Charles provides technical assistance to states, communities, and foundations on child and family issues and heads the technical assistance activities of the federally-established National Center for Service Integration. Through funding from the Ford, Kauffman, and Packard Foundation, Bruner also directs the State Early Childhood Policy Technical Assistance Network, providing evidenced-based assistance to state decision-makers on school readiness issues.
Bruner has written widely on public policy approaches to developing more comprehensive, community-based responses to children, family, and neighborhood needs. |
Todd Clausen
Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI |
Todd Clausen is Coordinator of the Data Center program of the Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee. He has been involved in Data Center projects since December 2002. Todd works with Community Development Block Grant agencies and other Milwaukee nonprofits requiring data and mapping services, as well as Information Technologies consultation and assistance. He supervises a largely volunteer staff of interns - which allows providing custom Geographic Information Services (GIS) and data services to individual organizations.
After an aborted career as a Nuclear Engineer and Radiation Health Physicist, and stints managing bicycle shops, Todd worked as an archeologist. Todd has ten years experience working in the Middle East as a Field Archaeologist and consultant on Database, Geographic Information Systems, and Site Survey design. He has a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems and degrees in Anthropology, Geology and Classics and from Iowa State and Penn State University. He also has experience in grant writing, publication layout and design. |
Dave Coats
Associate Director, The Polis Center at IUPUI
Indianapolis, IN |
A lifelong resident of Indianapolis, Dave Coats has held a number of leadership positions within the community. Most recently he has served as Executive Director of The Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee. Prior to that he was the Corporate Director of Human Resources for the Health and Hospital Corporation.
Coats also served the Archdiocese of Indianapolis for 20 years in a number of capacities, ultimately reaching the position of Vicar General and Diocesan Administrator during a prolonged vacancy between Archbishops.
Prior to coming to The Polis Center, Coats was Executive Director of The Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee. The GIPC, a non-profit organization, serves as a focal point of Public, Private Partnership in Indianapolis. While at GIPC, Coats guided a variety of projects including, development of recommendations leading to the Indianapolis Police Department's implementation of a civilian review process, one of the most respected in the country. He also developed a presentation on the effect of current property taxing system on central city Indianapolis, significantly increasing awareness of the complex problems associated with this issue.
In his capacity as Associate Director for The Polis Center, Coats provides leadership to the team facilitating community partnerships and oversees community projects tailored to the needs of the individual partners.
|
Jay Colbert
GIS Analyst, The Polis Center at IUPUI
Indianapolis, IN |
Jay Colbert started with The Polis Center as an intern performing a variety of tasks including geodatabase creation/maintenance, geocoding, digitizing, and data import and analysis. Colbert imported and manipulated data and created and modified both spatial and non-spatial databases. Colbert also assisted IT personnel with maintenance of computers and network systems.
In his role as GIS Analyst, Jay Colbert prepares maps for display at conferences and for publication. He publishes and maintains enterprise spatial databases in support of on-line mapping applications, performs SAVI quality control, and manages data production.
|
Karen Frederickson Comer
Director of Collaborative Research, The Polis Center at IUPUI
Indianapolis, IN |
Karen Frederickson Comer is Director of Collaborative Research and Senior Research Associate. She is responsible for the development of research partnerships and initiatives and is currently focused on public health-related initiatives.
Frederickson Comer’s professional interests include the application of spatial analysis techniques and community knowledge for public health and medical research, teaching, and education. She has worked more than seventeen years in geographic information analysis and systems development and has managed multiple large-scale GIS data, application, and model development projects.
Prior to joining The Polis Center in 1996, she was a GIS Manager with Innovative Systems Developers (ISD) in Columbia, Maryland, where she managed GIS development services. Prior to that, she worked as a GIS Analyst and Principal Investigator for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where her focus was on the integration of environmental models with geographic information systems. |
Bob Cross
Director of Research and Planning, United Way of Central Indiana
Indianapolis, IN |
| Bob Cross, Director of Research and Planning at the United Way of Central Indiana, directs the development of the Community Assessment, one of the tools used by the UWCI in setting priorities for policy and funding decisions. His previous experience includes positions with the City of Indianapolis in the areas of community development and neighborhood policy, and several years work as an independent consultant specializing in program evaluation and organizational development for social service providers and funding organizations. Bob's educational background includes a B.S. in Political Science, an M.A. in History, and additional graduate study in urban history through the American Studies program at Purdue University. |
Neil Devadasan
System Engineering Manager, The Polis Center at IUPUI
Indianapolis, IN |
As System Engineering Manager, Neil Devadasan leads the systems development team at The Polis Center. He specializes in developing interoperable, distributed, service-based applications and supervises all application design and development.
Devadasan joined The Polis Center as a visiting Research Associate in 1996. Currently, he also is a Visiting Researcher at Community Grid Lab at Indiana University. |
Andy Fraizer
Indianapolis Mayor's Office
Indianapolis, IN |
Andy Fraizer is Director of Community Development for Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson. Andy is the policy advisor for a portfolio of community development initiatives that improve neighborhood quality of life. Andy is responsible for initiatives that produce and improve access to affordable housing, reuse abandoned properties, revitalize commercial districts, improve access to jobs and amenities, beautify communities, and engage residents.
For the last four years, Andy has spearheaded for local government a multi-million dollar comprehensive community development program-the Great Indy Neighborhoods Initiatives. As part of this multi-agency collaboration including local intermediaries and community benefit organizations, local government uses tax increment financing to invest in neighborhood-developed revitalization priorities. Andy also oversees local investments in affordable housing and critical human services. These housing investments include traditional government sources and identifying new permanent revenues for Indianapolis' local housing trust fund.
Andy was previously assistant controller for the City of Indianapolis. As assistant controller, Andy's primary responsibility was to identify and secure inter-governmental and philanthropic funding for city-county government and the Mayor's agenda. His efforts contributed to a collective sum of $6 million secured for diverse programs and institutions including all departments of city government, several county agencies, Indianapolis Public Schools, and other collaborative partners.
Before joining city government in 2000, Andy was an information specialist with the Indiana Business Modernization and Technology (BMT) Corporation where he provided research services for BMT program directors and Indiana small- and medium-sized manufacturers. In addition to these responsibilities, Andy assisted with state and federal government relations and promoted the agency through strategic marketing.
Andy earned a bachelor's degree from Indiana State University in Secondary Education and Political Science and a master's degree in Public Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. In addition to his professional experience, Andy is active in the community serving as a member of the board of directors of the local Head Start agency, Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (appointed by Mayor Peterson), Momentive Consumer Credit Counseling, and is board president for the Horizon House homeless day center. |
Michele Goodrich
Executive Vice President for Advancement, YMCA of Greater Indianapolis
Indianapolis, IN |
| Michele Goodrich is the Executive Vice President for Advancement at the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis. Her primary responsibilities include financial development, philanthropic initiatives, image development, and capacity building. During her 27-year career with the YMCA, she has served in a variety of positions including Executive Vice President for Advancement, Vice President of Branch Operations, and Vice President of Marketing and Program Development, and Director of Marketing and Communications. Prior to the YMCA, she worked for the Catholic Youth Organization, Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center, The National Wildlife Federation, and Semester at Sea. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Indiana University. |
Manuela Johnson
Indiana Department of Homeland Security
Indianapolis, IN |
Manuela Johnson has worked with the State of Indiana for 22 years in various agencies, including: Indiana State Department of Health, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and currently with Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS). While at IDHS, she has served as a field coordinator working with southern 48 county Local Emergency Planning Committees creating and updating the countywide hazardous materials emergency response plans, served as the Anti-Terrorism Division Director coordinating Homeland Security state and local strategic planning efforts and grant applications, worked as the Special Programs Division Director coordinating the State Emergency Management Accreditation Program and local Hoosier Safety Foundation Applications, and currently has the privilege to work as Section Chief of the Mitigation Section. The Section works closely with State and local government in mitigating the consequences of disasters and helping communities better plan how to mitigate risks to make their communities as safer place to live and work.
Manuela also has served as a volunteer firefighter and advanced emergency medical technician in Marion and Morgan Counties over 22 years and is a Fire Service Instructor and motor sports fire/rescue team member for NHRA and other sanctioning bodies. She has a BA in Chemistry and Biology with Minor in Medical Sociology from Purdue. |
Sharon Kandris
SAVI Director/GIS Project Manager, The Polis Center at IUPUI
Indianapolis, IN |
Sharon Kandris is a GIS Project Manager at The Polis Center at IUPUI. With more than ten years of experience with GIS applications, analysis, and consulting, she manages several large community information systems covering several disciplines and applies GIScience to improve analysis and decision making by local governmental and not-for-profit agencies. Amongst the projects that Kandris directs is the Social Assets and Vulnerabilities Indicators (SAVI) System, a large GIS-based community information system for Central Indiana designed to help human service planners and community-based organizations gain a better understanding of their communities and improve their decision making. She also manages other GIS projects aimed at scholarly audiences and regularly teams with researchers to apply GIS to community-based health projects.
Prior to joining The Polis Center, Kandris was a GIS Analyst with the City of Concord, North Carolina Planning Department. In this position, she supported the development and maintenance of the City’s GIS and conducted GIS analyses. |
Ted Maple
Director of Success By 6, United Way of Central Indiana
Indianapolis, IN |
| Ted Maple is Director of Success By 6 at United Way of Central Indiana. He is a former public school teacher, preschool program director, and staff liaison for former Gov. Joe Kernan’s Indiana Early Learning and School Readiness Commission. Ted holds a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in elementary and early childhood education. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife Johanna, and three sons, ages 6 months through 6 years. |
Marc McAleavey
Evaluation and Documentation Manager, Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center (INRC)
Indianapolis, IN |
| Marc McAleavey is the Evaluation and Documentation Manager with the Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center (INRC). Born and raised in the Indianapolis community, Marc has a keen interest in the health and capacity of all city neighborhoods. He and his wife, Karen, live in the Mapleton-Fall Creek Neighborhood and helped start The Zawadi Exchange Asset Based Community Development initiative. Aside from enjoying studying innovative evaluation methods for community-based action and programs, Marc likes to play music, spend time with friends and read a good book. He graduated from the Indiana University School of Social Work with a master’s of Social Work this past May. To contact Marc, call 920-0330 x 104 or mmcaleavey@inrc.org. |
Christina Mushi-Brunt
Assistant Research Professor, Department of Health Sciences at IUPUI
Indianapolis, IN |
Christina Mushi-Brunt is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis. She holds a master's and Ph.D. from the School of Public Health at Saint Louis University. She has been previously employed as family health educator and public health department research analyst in Tennessee.
Christina's previous research has focused on racial and ethnic disparities in health and childhood obesity. Her ongoing research interests are related to community-based participatory research and the intersection between health and place. She is currently leading a research team engaged in exploring the practical and contextual aspects of health knowledge and health knowledge assessment among youth. |
Kathryn Pettit
Research Associate, The Urban Institute
Washington, D.C. |
Kathryn L.S. Pettit is a research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute whose work focuses on measures of neighborhood change and the role of place in social outcomes. She serves as deputy director of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, a collaborative effort by the Urban Institute and local partners to further the development and use of neighborhood-level information systems in local policymaking and community building. She also leads the Institute’s work on providing data and analytic content for DataPlace, a national web-based resource for small-area housing and community development indicators (http://www.dataplace.org). She is currently contributing to several research projects, including an annual study of the Washington, D.C. area housing market.
Ms. Pettit also assists the national management and local teams of the Annie E. Casey’s Making Connections initiative. Before joining the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center, Ms. Pettit worked at the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy where she concentrated on the analysis and documentation of I.R.S. data sources on nonprofit organizations. |
Allison Plyer
Community Data Center at Knowledge Works
New Orleans, LA |
| Allison Plyer is Deputy Director of the Community Data Center at Knowledge Works, the local neighborhood data intermediary serving the nonprofit sector in New Orleans since 1997. Her role is to determine user needs, identify the most reliable data sources to meet those needs, provide expertise in interpreting the data, and develop content for the www.gnocdc.org web site. One core project is The New Orleans Index, which is co-published with the Brookings Institution and tracks population, economic, housing, education and infrastructure indicators to assess the recovery and identify needed re-prioritizations. Allison is the author of Using U.S. Postal Service Delivery Statistics To Track the Repopulation of New Orleans & the Metropolitan Area.
|
Mary E. Riner
Associate Professor and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Healthy Cities, School of Nursing at Indiana University
New Orleans, LA |
| Dr. Mary E. Riner, RN, DNS, is Associate Professor and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Healthy Cities at the Indiana University School of Nursing. Her initial interest in GIS was as a tool for converting her students’ hand drawn maps of community characteristics and resources into technology facilitated maps. In partnership with the Polis Center, Dr. Riner developed a tutorial to help students learn to create GIS maps within the SAVI website. This led to the revision of the senior course paper and the current focus involves using technology and critical thinking to understand the distribution of epidemiological data within a community. As a result of creating these maps students must identify areas with priority needs and develop a community plan of intervention. Dr. Riner’s research use of GIS was as an initial partner in building a data bridge between the SAVI data and the Regenstrief Institute childhood asthma data. Dr. Riner has presented and published on her education and research applications of GIS and reviewed grants from other universities developing this research methodology.
|
John Stern
Executive Director, Neighborhoods Resource Center
Nashville, TN |
John Stern, Executive Director of the Neighborhoods Resource Center, is best known as a social entrepreneur whose extensive involvement in neighborhood engagement has led him to be an acknowledged expert on Nashville's neighborhood organizations, specifically and citizen engagement, community planning, resident based neighborhood engagement strategies in general. As a founding member, past president and current chairman of Nashville Neighborhood Alliance, Inc.; founding member and past Chairman of the annual Nashville's Night Out Against Crime; convener of Nashville’s The Future of Neighborhoods visioning process; founder of Neighborhoods Resource Center; founding member of Cumberland Region Tomorrow; founder of the Neighborhood Crime and Safety Council; founder of Hermitage Environmental Leadership Project; founder Donelson - Hermitage Neighborhood Association; among many other activities, he has impressive credentials in marshalling local and citywide citizen based initiatives.
In addition John has been a leader in a variety of action-oriented advisory committees including the Arson Prevention Task Force; Metropolitan Planning Department -- Executive Director Search Committee, Retired Seniors Volunteer Program; Brownfields Advisory Committee; CityNet Consortium Board; Community Mediation Roundtable; Healthy Nashville 2000+ Leadership Team; Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Task Force; David Lipscomb Advisory Committee; Animal Control Advisory Committee; and the Zoning Advisory Committee.
He is former chair of the Nashville Violence Prevention Coalition and is a 1995 graduate of Leadership Nashville. Other activities and organizations that he is or has been involved with include the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership; Reentry Mapping Network; Department of Commerce – Census Bureau; Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities; Green Neighbors Project; Low Income Housing Forum; Nashville Healthcare Partnership; Nashville Sponsoring Committee; Partners for a Healthy Nashville; Recycle!Nashville; and the United Way.
John was recognized by our city's Mayor as Nashville's "Neighbor of the Year" - the first recipient of what became an annual award. |
Ed Stoddard
Web Developer, The Polis Center at IUPUI
Indianapolis, IN |
In his role of web developer at Polis, Ed Stoddard develops database driven web applications and GIS web solutions, designs presentation layer components, develops applications to balance processing between the client and server. In addition to his project specific work, Stoddard has developed shopping carts, class registration, and a web user profile system for the Polis network of websites.
Stoddard enhances and maintains the interactive web site of the Social Assets and Vulnerabilities Indicators project (http://www.savi.org). Stoddard also is the Web Developer, for Spirit and Place. He develops and maintains the website
Ed's software experience includes SQL, HTML, Cold Fusion, ASPASP.NET, VB.NET, VBScript, Visual Interdev, ADO, ADO.NET, JavaScript, PERL, Cascading StyleSheets, Extensible Markup Language, Extensible Style Sheet Language, ESRI ArcIMS, Autodesk MapGuide, Microsoft Access, MSSQL Server, Dbase IV, File Maker Pro, Adobe PhotoShop, Macromedia Fireworks, Adobe PageMaker, Adobe Illustrator, and Macromedia Flash. |
Sarah Wiehe
Pediatrician, Children’s Health Services Research Program at the Indiana University School of Medicine
Indianapolis, IN |
| Sarah Wiehe is a pediatrician and public health researcher at Children’s Health Services Research Program at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on how poverty and associated social determinants of health influence adolescent behaviors such as smoking, substance use, and risky sexual activity. She is currently studying contextual correlates of sexually transmitted infections using the Regenstrief Medical Record System data and collecting mapped and perceived contextual data on adolescent health-risk using GIS and qualitative techniques. |
|
|
|