Robust data systems and real-time reporting can be critical in providing real-time learning opportunities to grantees that can help inform continuous improvement efforts. These data systems also support ongoing reporting to key stakeholders within the community, including local government representatives, the media, and local citizens.
Many grantees are publicly reporting information about their program outcomes through online dashboards. While some of these dashboards show simple snapshots of applications processed and dollars paid, many also allow the viewer to see how program inputs and outputs have changed overtime. Many dashboards also show program statistics across various community demographics and/or across geographic areas, such as statistics broken down by county, district, or zip code.
Examples
The city of Charlotte, NC
The city of Charlotte, NC has worked with a nonprofit partner, to develop a real-time internal-facing dashboard that shows application status broken down by key performance, geographic, and demographic measures. Administrators report that the dashboard informs programmatic strategic decision-making and improves ease of conducting internal audits. Readily available real-time data helps administrators to quickly respond to inquiries from applicants, local leaders, and stakeholders, cultivating more trust within the community.
The city of Houston and Harris County, TX
The city of Houston and Harris County, TX maintains a data system that maps ERA applications and payments and analyzes actual payments made by neighborhood against a model of expected payments by neighborhood based on the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index. These analytics have motivated targeted outreach strategies to underserved communities, such as identifying new locations for ERA program navigators and eviction prevention drive-through events.
The State of Indiana
The State of Indiana engages in periodic continuous improvement events. Administrators bring in non-program staff to assist in a full procedural review to critically think through processes and identify whether there are opportunities to improve program efficiency, quality, and equity.
The states of Missouri, Maine, Kentucky, and Virginia
Many grantees, across the country including, but not limited to the states of Missouri, Maine, Kentucky, and Virginia have also indicated that running weekly analytics across the various program processes have enabled them to identify application bottlenecks, allowing for targeted problem-solving to smooth and accelerate application processing.