PolicyMap Around the Web: January 2019
There are so many instances of PolicyMap-created maps and data being used and mentioned around the web that this blog series can now be a regular feature! Here are some of the places PolicyMap has been used or mentioned over the past few months. As usual, if you’ve used PolicyMap and have a project to share, let us know!
Philadelphia Inquirer
In an article about Opportunity Zones and the release of their tax rules, the Philadelphia Inquirer lists PolicyMap as a resource for investors to use in maximizing the impact of Opportunity Zone Investments. The article also mentions the webinar we hosted this year on Guiding Principles for Opportunity Zones.
Planetizen
The Place Database, a land-use data and mapping tool created by The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, using PolicyMap’s platform and data, was featured on a Planetizen roundup of Top Planning Websites of 2018.
Inside Philanthropy
Nonprofit resource Inside Philanthropy wrote about how PolicyMap can be used to create tools for finding childcare resources, tools such as the recently released Early Childhood Map DC. The article discusses our work with our friends at Reinvestment Fund, who conduct studies to find the areas where childcare resources fall short, and how that can be used to bolster childcare in these areas.
The Intelligencer (Bucks County, PA)
In suburban Philadelphia, The Intelligencer used PolicyMap to cite asthma rates in various parts of Bucks County in an article about air pollution.
San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA)
PolicyMap subscriber San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA) published a series of maps relating to the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. The maps are meant to help families find areas of San Antonio (and surrounding Bexar County) that offer the greatest opportunities in a variety of areas. They show areas of high poverty, Medically Underserved Areas and health facilities, and school district graduation rates.
Primary Care Development Corporation
In its reports on New York City council districts, PCDC used PolicyMap to download a list of Federally Qualified Health Centers, and show how the number of FQHCs in a given district compares with other districts, to see how local residents’ medical needs are served.
Project Muse
Researchers took a look at Invest Health, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Reinvestment Fund to encourage new ways of reducing health disparities in low-income populations in midsized cities. Looking at Gulfport, Mississippi, the paper notes how PolicyMap was used to prioritize health-related needs, and to identify areas of high health disparities.
Librarian’s Guide to Online Searching: Cultivating Database Skills for Research and Instruction
Christopher Brown and Suzanne Bell include PolicyMap in their reviews of statistical mapping databases. They found particular value in PolicyMap’s food desert data, from the USDA and from Reinvestment Fund’s Limited Supermarket Access study.
Grand Challenges for Social Work
In their paper, “Policy Recommendations for Expanding Access to Banking and Financial Services”, Terri Friedline, Mathieu Despard, and Julie Birkenmaier cited a post from our Mapchats blog showing how lower income and minority communities often lack broadband internet access, creating barriers to accessing financial services.
Rutgers University
In his paper, “Socioeconomic Development in Middlesex County”, professor Arturo E. Osorio writes that to promote the socioeconomic sustainability of a place, policymakers and community leaders need to use in-depth analysis, and provides such analysis for Middlesex County, New Jersey. Data and maps from PolicyMap are used to provide an overview of the area, looking at indicators including population trends and commute times.
University of San Francisco
Masters of Science in Behavioral Health candidate Lily Moll used PolicyMap for her capstone project, “In Home Support for All: A Community Outreach Project”. She used PolicyMap to gather data on adult unemployment and senior poverty rates in the San Francisco area, and use it with local data on in-home supportive services consumers and providers to find areas of need.
University of Washington
Policy Studies Masters candidate Shibuki Hanai used PolicyMap to provide data on his paper, “A GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Evaluation of Disaster Vulnerability in an Urban Space”. He writes about the need to look at public engagement in emergency planning, rather than recovery efforts after major disasters, examining specifically the earthquake risk in Bothell, Washington.
Georgia State University
PolicyMap is featured as a resource for students needing to use data (who aren’t necessarily data experts) in Amanda J. Swygart-Hobaugh’s “Data and Graduate Students: Less Naked and Less Afraid, or Giving Graduate Students the Clothes and Confidence for Data Success”.