Making Community Indicators Accessible Through the Census Information Center: Howard University, Portals to the Community, and the New American University

Abstract

Discussions about community indicators often focus more on the discovery about knowledge and less on the integration, communication, and application of the knowledge embodied in community indicators. Yet such indicators are intended to inform practitioners at every level of the community, and cannot be effectively implemented without the other three components to which Boyer alludes. This chapter presents a model for better integrating such knowledge and making it available to universities and community groups. It is linked Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and their Census Information Centers (CICs). The model also provides for a fuller application of information gained from community indicators, as well as other sources, to pressing community concerns.