The PolicyMap tool empowers our stakeholders by giving them 24 hour access to information about their community. As for our staff, we are able to have more productive community meetings and healthy conversations that demonstrate that we are aware of and understand the needs of the community. Janel A. Young, Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives
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Challenge

Janel A. Young, Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives at Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC), needed to know why developments were not being proposed and awarded funding in certain areas of the state, and she wanted to help paint the picture as to why those communities were good places to develop. She also needed authoritative data to inform the LHC’s Qualified Allocation Plan priorities. Moreover, she was seeking an efficient way to prepare for appointments – both scheduled and impromptu -- with elected officials to discuss their constituents’ needs in an informed manner.

Solution

With a public-facing embedded PolicyMap tool on the LHC website, LHC provides the tools to stakeholders across the state that allows them to be more competitive in their funding applications using data from LHC and PolicyMap. The LHC now has the ability to create PolicyMap Community Profiles in seconds, even for communities about which they are less familiar, such as the rural areas of the state. And PolicyMap assists LHC to empower the communities by showing them how to assess their needs using maps and data created by PolicyMap. LHC also utilizes PolicyMap to identify needs and measure the impact of the Corporation’s housing investments. LHC uses PolicyMap to develop the scoring criteria for their Qualified Allocation Plan, and to areas that should be prioritized by using incentives. PolicyMap allows both LHC and the citizens of Louisiana to go beyond analysis at the parish (county) level and down to a more nuanced assessment at the neighborhood level.