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Community Indicators Community Scorecards and Audits

Community Indicators

Community indicators enable a community to understand where it has been and where it is going and identify areas for improvement to achieve a different outcome. Indicators projects use measurable data to shed light on trends (both positive and negative) for a current issue or, more typically, for a combination of issues that affects a community’s quality of life and economic well-being. The issues tracked in a community indicators project vary by region, based on the driving issues and the important community values. They can measure, for example, economic, environmental, social, educational, and health trends. By tracking trends and progress on important community issues and goals, community indicators provide a focal point for a community dialogue about long-term planning needs and provide the basis for more informed policy decisions. Another value of indicators projects is to show how one issue relates to another (for example, less walkable communities and higher traffic or more air pollution), which in turn can result in a more comprehensive understanding of the issues and can create partnerships between diverse organizations that come together to address a linked cluster of issues. In some communities, community indicators projects are tied to the local decision-making process.

A number of communities and regions in Florida sponsor an indicators initiative. In addition to the CUES’ South Florida Regional Indicators Project, there are indicators projects sponsored by the Jacksonville Community Council (one of the earliest indicators projects in 1985), myregion.org in Orlando, Tampa-Hillsborough County, Pinellas County, Sarasota County, the Tampa Bay Partnership, and the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. To further the work of Florida’s regions in measuring their progress, CUES convenes the Florida Indicators Network (FIN) to share ideas and build cross-region relationships. The FIN, now in its third year, is working to establish a common set of indicators to measure progress throughout the state. Also at the state level, Enterprise Florida (the state’s economic development organization) publishes a set of statewide economic indicators. At the national level, a number of organizations provide information on establishing an indicators project. Among them are the Community Indicator Consortium, which serves as a resource on indicators by facilitating the exchange of information among those interested in or engaged in the field of community indicators, and the Alliance for Regional Stewardship (ARS), which provides technical support for community indicators initiatives through its Regional Indicators Affinity Group. ARS also publishes a monograph, Regional Indicators: Telling Stories, Measuring Trends, Inspiring Action.

Four other resource organizations are the International Sustainability Indicators Network, which publishes the Compendium of Sustainable Development Indicator Initiatives; Partners for Livable Communities; the Sustainable Communities Network, which hosts a web-based listing of indicators projects; and the Redefining Progress Community (RPC) Indicators Project. RPC provides links to existing and emerging indicators projects and facilitates the development of community indicators initiatives nationwide. RPC provides technical support, publishes a Community Indicators Handbook, and hosts an e-mail-based discussion group and a database directory of 200 community indicators projects around the United States. The Jacksonville Community Council also provides resource information on indicators through its Jacksonville Indicators Manual.

 

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South Florida Regional Indicators Project
The South Florida Regional Indicators Project is sponsored by the Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions (CUES) at Florida Atlantic University. Since its first indicators report in 2001, CUES has published three additional reports that track environmental, economic, and social trends in South Florida, a seven-county region extending from Monroe County to the south to Indian River County to the north. The Indicators project is a part of CUES’ regional initiative program designed to build a strong capacity to meet regional needs and build a greater awareness of the need to act regionally to solve the complex problems facing the region. The most recent report, Charting the Course: Where Is South Florida Heading?, was released in early 2006. As with the prior reports, that publication provides performance trends for key indicators in each of the three region-binding forces of place, economy, and people. It also compares South Florida with other Florida regions. Expert comments provide insights into future needs and potential choices. (More information is available from www.soflo.org.)