History
The idea for a local data resource was incubated by four partners that continue to support our efforts:
Smart Beginnings (Merger of Youth Matters and Success By 6)
,
The Annie E. Casey Foundation,
Jessie Ball duPont Fund, and
The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute.
Dr. Kevin Allison
and Linda Birtley oversaw the development and implementation of this data resource.
Our kick-off "Data Day" was held on November 19, 2002 to demonstrate local data capacity and to obtain
nonprofit community stakeholders' opinions on data and information needs. In 2003 and 2004, DataShare
Metro Richmond, as a community collaborative, engaged in a strategic planning process led by our Steering
Committee. Our Richmond Area Data Access Resource (RADAR) work teams, composed of individuals from 14 organizations,
studied and made recommendations about the systems, structure, content, and outreach activities for this web-based
resource.
Members of the Steering Committee and RADAR toured "best cities" to gather ideas. Three
National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership
sites were visited: the
Greater New Orleans Community Data Center,
The Reinvestment Fund (Philadelphia), and
DC Agenda (now with Neighborhood Info in Washington, D.C.).
Local pilot projects, funded by The Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Jessie Ball
du Pont Fund, were conducted to gain experience in data sharing agreements, data access, use, and analysis issues,
and partnerships. See our pilot project products on our
Papers and Reports.
All of this work led to the development of a prototype of the DataShare website. Local reviewers gave feedback that we
used to produce this resource.
We were privileged to receive the continuous support of the leadership of Youth
Matters staff, especially Lisa Specter, Veronica Templeton, Joan Marable, Carol Obrachta, and Lynn McCashin. A special
thank you to
Elizabeth Roark of Embark Technologies and
James M. Burke, Ph.D. of the VCU Office of Public Policy
Training, for their planning and facilitation expertise in working with our Steering Committee and RADAR. We appreciate
Karen Wilson's support of the Steering and RADAR Committees. Many, many kudos to Chris Gist for the prototype, and VCU
Urban and Regional Planning students, especially Lallen Johnson and Michael Kolonay for their recent data and web
development work, and Dr. Michela Zonta's classes for compiling the underlying Richmond City data. Finally, much
gratitude to Dr. Michela Zonta and Dr. Ivan Suen for their guidance in these efforts.
Our Steering Committee's efforts were borne by dedicated individuals from the following agencies and organizations:
Our RADAR teams were supported by committed individuals from the following organizations: