MAPS
Maps of census tracts, zip codes, and various government boundaries can also be generated from www.factfinder.census.gov. In California, www.nkca.ucla.gov has the same capacity, with a more friendly user interfaces
You can find and copy maps from the web site of your state transportation department, or simply from www.Mapquest.com or from http://maps.yahoo.com/ or http://www.mapblast.com/ or http://maps.google.com/
DEMOGRAPHICS
http://www.fairdata2000.com/ - excellent site for mapping or downloading socio-economic census data, with links to other sites, such as summer food programs serving low-income communities. Works at all levels, down to block-level (sub-census tract). Created by the Norfolk State University in North Carolina, so there are some specialized reports on conditions of families in that state.
http:///www.dataplace.com - this site will generate comparative data, such as multiple cities in a county, plus the state total. This makes it easy to see how your community measures on various population and economic characteristics. The number of variables you can check is somewhat limited however, but you can generate nice comparative charts and graphs which is helpful also.
POPULATION GROWTH/UPDATES (non-Census)
California Dept. of Finance * http://www.dof.ca.gov/html/demograp/histe-4.htm
You can get the projections up to the year 2050, year by year, although the further out you go the more speculative they become.
http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/DEMOGRAP/DRU_datafiles/Race/RaceData_2000-2050.htm
We now go to the California State Department of Finance website for their projections of total population by City.
http://www.dof.ca.gov/Research/Research.asp
BIRTHS AND PUBLIC HEALTH STATUS/TRENDS
Try the state public health department. county and city level data will vary widely in the quality, timeliness, and ease of cutting and pasting into your document, so start at the top.
here’s an example of Alameda County’s public health data: http://www.acphd.org/
On the left side click on ‘data and reports’ which takes you to
http://www.acphd.org/user/data/datareports.asp\
ELIGIBILITY - CHILDREN RECEIVING PUBLIC ASSISTANCE.
Your County Department of Social Services web site may publish its regular reports on the number of people enrolled in the public assistance programs.
http://www.alamedasocialservices.org/public/community/statistics_and_reports/quarterly_reports/
In California, counties report quarterly and the data are made ‘official’ many months later. The delay is, in part, because they have to verify their numbers because these numbers have effects on state and Federal reimbursement. As of March 2006, the most recent report posted was for September of 2004, i.e. about 17 months ago.
http://www.alamedasocialservices.org/public/pdfs/quarterly_reports/QR_09_04.pdf
Sometimes you can find a person within the state office or county department who will make their preliminary ‘unofficial’ numbers available to you. For Head Start purposes, current data that is off by a percent or so may be more useful than exact numbers that are more than a year old.
|
Table 11. Children Receiving Public Assistance. |
||||
|
|
Albany |
Berkeley |
Emeryville |
TOTAL |
|
CalWORKS (TANF) |
53 |
610 |
68 |
|
|
Under Age 3 |
5 |
113 |
15 |
133 |
|
Age 3 to 5 |
24 |
146 |
17 |
187 |
|
Total Birth to 5 |
259 |
29 |
32 |
320 |
|
Food Stamps |
15 |
58 |
20 |
|
|
Medi-Cal |
162 |
996 |
129 |
|
Source: School district CBEDS report, 2001-2002, Alameda County Department of Social Services, February 2003.
OTHER ELIGIBILITY DATA – School Enrollment in Food Programs
Go to your State Department of Education web site. The School District Web sites may have more up to date information, but it may not be as complete.
In California the state site is http://www.cde.ca.gov/
Click on ‘data and statistics’ and you get to http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/
There are several avenues through which you can proceed
One is Ed-Data and it is at http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/welcome.asp
Another is the system titled the California Basic Educational Data System which is known by its acronym, CBEDS. CBEDS is at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sd/cb/reports.asp
Another is their Dataquest toolkit, which you can use to create your own reports. For example the most recent enrollment data by district by ethnicity is available at http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/
At the bottom of the right side click “create your own report.” Select the district and elementary school.
Enrollment data can also be accessed via: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sd/cb/state.asp#enr
When you get frustrated you can e-mail or call Educational Demographics Office at eddemo@cde.ca.gov
916-327-0219.
STATUS OF CHILDREN
KidsCount data, published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/ The Foundation also funds a nationwide network of state-level KIDS COUNT projects that provide a more detailed, community-by-community picture of the condition of children.
a list of childcare centers and family day prepared by a County Health Department research unit (PACE), and state group called the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs.html#sr – special reports from American Factfinder, includes reports on family and children trends, including adoption, stepchildren, family migrations, and household composition.
FOOD AND NUTRITION
http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/sfsp/
This site maps summer food program sites and sponsors, schools, 50% of students are eligible for federal lunch program, and the # of children 185% of poverty by census tract, down to the zip code or city level. This can be a useful base map for tracking other community resources.
CHILD CARE FACILITIES
The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) can help you locate the agency in your area. http://www.naccrra.net/
Your state will also have a licensing board site that may publish facilities in a given area.
California state licensing agency: http://ccld.ca.gov/ChildCareL_1728.htm