The WCA Data Dashboard serves as a one-stop shop for key data that is accessible to community stakeholders, researchers, local government agencies, and relevant foundations interested in sustainable Westside community development.

“We believe that this tool has the potential to encourage greater data-driven decision-making at the neighborhood and Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU) level in addition to supporting research and policymaking that addresses significant challenges in areas of education, economic development, transit and mobility, and public safety,” said WCA Associate Director Mackenzie Madden.

In its current form, the dashboard offers resources in seven categories:  1) Community Profiles, 2) Economic Development, 3) Education, 4) Public Safety, 5) All Data, 6) Historical Data, and 7) Resource Library.

Presently, the dashboard displays information for NPU’s K, L, and T – the three NPUs connected to the WCA – as compared to the City of Atlanta.

The dashboard is a user-friendly tool that:  1) draws upon available quantitative and qualitative data, 2) stores data collected for current and future research initiatives, 3) provides metrics for assessing the success of diverse engagement and intervention models, and 4) develops comprehensive reports to identify the impact of “anchor institutions” such as Georgia Tech on neighboring communities to highlight knowledge gaps.

The Data Dashboard project began in 2011 as a static Westside neighborhoods asset map created in conjunction with faculty in the Georgia Tech College of Architecture. Under the leadership of Dean Royster and her WCA leadership team, the first virtual tool was created in Fall 2013 by a group of graduate students in Dr. John Stasko’s Data Visualization class. That iteration mapped transit and walkability in the city. The platform also provided a heat map of census data that has since been transformed into the Big Data tool available today. Graduate Research Assistants in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts continued building the dashboard into its present form.

Katie O’Connell, MCRP 2015, was hired as the Project Manager for the Data Dashboard in Summer 2014. She began by researching similar platforms across the country and collecting relevant data for the city of Atlanta. During an Online Tools session of the WCA’s 2014 Community Studio, O’Connell was able to determine the basic pros and cons of existing resources such as the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Neighborhood Nexus, the U.S. EPA’s Enviromapper, and the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Several focus groups with Westside residents and stakeholders were held as various portals were designed to garner feedback on the usability of the dashboard.

The WCA staff has presented the dashboard at various conferences and symposia including The Center for Community Progress’ Vacant Properties Conference in 2015, Atlanta Studies Symposium, TEDx Atlanta, and the Georgia Tech Center for Urban Innovation.

The WCA Data Dashboard has been made possible through various stages of development in collaboration with entities at Georgia Tech including College of Architecture, College of Computing, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, the Center for Geographic Information Systems, and with funding from the Ford Foundation.

Please visit wcadatadashboard.iac.gatech.edu to explore the platform. Please use the hashtag #WCADataDashboard in social media settings, when referencing the tool.

WCA Staff attended the Atlanta Regional Commission’s first Building Opportunity Workshop on Poverty and Transportation Access in Metropolitan Atlanta on January 21, 2015. Speakers included Rebecca Burns, Deputy Editor of Atlanta Magazine; Keith Parker, CEO of MARTA; Dr. Michael Rich, Executive Director of Emory Center for Community Partnerships; and Nathaniel Smith, CEO of Partnership for Southern Equity. Attendees had round-table discussions to give input on these issues in the context of: the vision, policies, funding, and obstacles.

View the attachment for highlights of the presentation, and view ARC’s website: http://atlantaregional.com/the-regional-plan/get-informed/building-opportunity-workshop-series for slides, maps, and a full report on the table discussions.

View the video that Atlanta Magazine produced on income inequality on a 2 mile, 5 minute drive from downtown to the Westside traveling Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd to Joseph E. Boone Blvd.: http://www.atlantamagazine.com/article/video-atlantas-income-inequality-in-less-than-2-miles-and-5-minutes/

Poverty and Transportation Highlights 2015

Paul Morris Updates the NCA

Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. on the Westside

WCA staff attended the first Northwest Community Alliance of the year. Paul Morris, President and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. (ABI) was the evening’s guest speaker. Mr. Morris did a wonderful job of updating the residents on recent accomplishments of the BeltLine, new policies adopted by the Board, and some timelines for assessments, grants, and implementations. He was gracious enough to answer questions after he spoke. His presentation as well the question/answer section can be found in the attachment below.

NCA_Jan2015_PaulMorris
 

For more information on the Atlanta BeltLine visit http://beltline.org/

Atlanta BeltLine Trail

2015 Proposed Infrastructure Bond for Atlanta, GA

Will Atlantan’s have the change to vote on a proposed infrastructure bond? The Westside Communities Alliance staff attended one of the public information hearings on the 2015 Proposed Infrastructure Bond. The  bond would address Atlanta’s $900 million infrastructure backlog and pay for improvements and maintenance. Additional information on the bond and how it would impact Atlanta’s future can be found through the links below.

Notes from the meeting can be viewed here: InfrastructureBondMeeting_071614

Future public information meetings can be viewed here: http://www.atlantaga.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=14334

Information from the city can be viewed here: http://www.atlantaga.gov/index.aspx?page=1145

 
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On July 16^th, WCA staff was present at the Version 2 Pre-Launch of the Location Affordability Portal. The portal is a product of Sustainable Communities, the partnership between the Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Housing and Urban Development and the launch was one of only two throughout the nation.

Research shows that the average American family spends 52 cents of every dollar is spent on housing and transportation. The tool is intended to give families an extra metric for decision-making when it comes to choosing where to live and work. It combines the Location Affordability Index and the My Transportation Cost Calculator to provide the public with access to data on housing and transportation costs.

Cicely Garrett, of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, made a good point to the presenter about one fallacy of the tool: not taking into account the value of time. Especially here in Atlanta, where the rail system is less extensive than other cities, a wait for a bus, a transfer, and a ride on the train may take significantly longer than a ride in a car. Josh Geyer of the HUD Office of Economic Resilience, argues that time spent on public transit can be better utilized than time spent driving a car.

To use the portal, simply go to http://www.locationaffordability.info/ where you can explore both tools. In the Location Affordability Index, you can view annual averages (including number of residents per unit, number of vehicles owned, vehicle miles traveled, and transit trips) for your region by inputting your address.

The Transportation Cost Calculator creates a profile for you and your family based on where you live and work and how often you use a car compared to transit. You can even make multiple profiles for different housing or work options to see how one location compares to another in terms of affordability.

See highlight statements from the second panel: LAP_Panel2

See hand-out from the event: LAPhandouts.

“Can it be good business to do the right thing?” That was the question posed at the end of March’s Atlanta Regional Housing Forum.

The forum’s introduction:
The academic achievement gap between poor and non-poor students is well-known. Low-income children consistently fall behind their peers in test scores, graduation rates, college enrollment, and other measures of academic success. In many cases, low- and moderate-income families cannot afford to live near high-performing, high-scoring schools. A growing body of examples demonstrates that building partnerships between schools, families, affordable housing stakeholders and community organizations can reconnect schools to their communities and improve educational achievements for young people.

Increase in partnerships between schools, families, and community organizations help to develop targeted educational programs and supports and increase access to services and opportunities to ensure that children succeed in school and are prepared for adult success. Likewise, partnerships have the opportunity to change traditional paradigms and improve school systems; in tough neighborhoods, and especially in large urban areas, schools can become disconnected from other assets, isolated from community leadership and concerns, and fragmented in their approach to young people’s development. Moreover, besides for directly affecting the lives of individuals and families, young people’s educational success is important to the economic success of neighborhoods and cities.

WCA Staff regularly attends the forum and this one hit particularly close to home. Carol Naughton, Senior Vice President of Purpose Built Communities spoke about community redevelopment through the East Lake Foundation. The creation of a mixed-income community has reduced violent crime in the East Lake community by 95%, reduced the amount of adults on welfare from 59% to 5%, and significantly increased CRCT scores and graduation rates for Drew Charter School students.

Naughton’s biggest message was about the relationship between housing and a child’s achievement and how youth achievement determines the future of an area. Currently, 1 in 10 Americans live in poverty and 1 in 4 children live in poverty. 86% of third grade children in concentrated poverty cannot read at grade level. Third grade reading levels are used to predict the number of prison beds needed, health outcomes, and other projections. She claims that tackling poverty issues is not only morally or socially just, it makes economic sense considering that the nation currently spends $500 billion on childhood poverty.

Marjy Stagmire, President of TI Asset Management, spoke about her residential property management experience in Clarkston, Georgia and her partnership with the local elementary school. In 5 years, Indian Creek Elementary saw a reduction in crime, a successful after-school program, and became a Title I School of Distinction. The Willow Branch apartments were purchased with $10 million of investment money and produced a 15% return on investment. Stagmire notes that these successes weren’t without challenges along the way. Yet, in the end, she was able to aid a struggling community and please her investors. She answers the question of “Can it be good business to do the right thing?” with a “yes”, cautioning that it is essential to be aware of the existing relationships when you come into a place.

Suggested readings from Enterprise Community Partners are:
Sustainable Communities Need Opportunity-Rich Schools: A Smart Growth Imperative – Future_of_Communities_SGN

The Positive Impacts of Affordable Housing on Education: A Research Summary – Housing_and_Education_Enterprise

Maximizing Walkability, Diversity, and Educational Equity in US Schools – Walkability_and_Diversity_PolicyLink

Read more about the Atlanta Regional Housing Forum here:

http://www.atlantaregionalhousing.org/forum/ 

House Bill 965 – 911 Medical Amnesty Law

http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-us/display/20132014/hb/965

House Bill 966 – Pharmacies; licensed health practitioners prescribe opioid antagonists to certain individuals and entities pursuant to a protocol; provisions

http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-us/display/20132014/hb/966

House Bill 264 – Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Act of 1965; extensively revise

http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-us/display/20132014/hb/264

The Atlanta Regional Commission is in the process of updating the long-range transportation plan for the metropolitan Atlanta region, and they want your input! Visit the online open house and submit your comments by February 21, 2014. The online open house is located at: http://atlantaregional.com/transportation/regional-transportation-plan/online-open-house

All the information about the MARTA public hearing can be found at: http://www.itsmarta.com/public-hearing-and-meetings.aspx

Westside highlights include:

• Improving peak frequencies on the East-West Blue and Green rail lines
• Looping bus route 67 around the Dixie Hills community
• Improving peak service on bus roue 12 (Howell Mill / Cumberland) to every 15 minutes between Midtown and West Paces Ferry (service from West Paces Ferry to Cumberland would decrease to one bus every 30 minutes)
• Improving peak service on bus route 53 (Skipper Dr. / West Lake Ave.) from one bus every 40 minutes to every 35 minutes until 8pm on weekdays
• Improving peak service on bus route 165 (Fairburn Rd. / Barge Rd. Park & Ride) from one bus every 30 minutes to every 15 minutes on weekdays
• Improving midday service on bus route 50 (Donald L. Hollowell Pkwy) from one bus every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes on Saturdays

To summarize, these changes are mostly favorable for improving service throughout metro Atlanta. Public comments can be submitted online at http://www.itsmarta.com/webcomments.aspx or through a variety of other formats, as outlined on the public hearing web page at the link above. Another MARTA community meeting with be hosted on Saturday, January 25 at the Adamsville Recreation Center (3201 Martin Luther King Drive, SW) from 12-2pm.

On January 13, 2014, Atlanta Regional Commission announced 11 communities receiving Livable Centers Initiative Awards totaling $800,000. LCI grants “help these communities create new plans for quality growth and help develop innovative policies that support more vibrant, connected communities”.

See the announcement here: http://www.atlantaregional.com/about-us/news-press/press-releases/arc-s-livable-centers-initiative-awards-800-000-to-11-communities

City of Atlanta was one of the recipients, receiving $40,000 for a transportation study of the Vine City-Washington Park area.

Westside Communities Alliance, Georgia Tech Professor Herman Howard, and Jessica Lavandier from the City of Atlanta’s Office of Planning worked with Washington Park community leaders to meet with ARC staff on developing the LCI grant proposal. An example of one of the points of interest for study and recommendations is the intersection of DeSoto St, Joseph E Lowery Blvd, and Mayson Turner Rd.

We’re excited to see what this study can do for the future of connectivity in these communities.

Learn more about the ARC’s Livable Centers Initiatives at: http://www.atlantaregional.com/land-use/livable-centers-initiative