Lessons from patchwork nation: A new framework for building community indicators

Abstract

Big data is likely to get bigger, making it increasingly more challenging to make sense of an excess of information. In an effort to measure progress, presenting numerous and often disconnected community indicators makes it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions. The authors believe that the lessons learned through their experiences with a community health needs assessment can help grantmakers increase the effectiveness of data-intensive, large-scale community-indicator work. Analysis and visualization of the project was based on the book Our Patchwork Nation: The Surprising Truth About the Real America and the website PatchworkNation.org. Using principle components analysis, the authors reduced a set of 25 separate indicators into a five-component solution to facilitate greater understanding of health needs and disparities across a county. This resulted in a more informative approach to assessing community needs.