ProvPlan functions as a data intermediary - helping policymakers and residents access public information that can be used to drive community improvement.
Current Work
Lead Technical Study
The Providence Plan and the Rhode Island Department of Health recently received $298,000 in Lead Technical Studies funding to study the effect that the state’s recently amended Lead Hazard Mitigation Law has had on the incidence of lead poisoning among children.
This proposal will address three primary research questions.
1. Among children living in non-owner occupied multi-family housing units between 2005 and 2009, what blood-lead level (BLL) variation exists among children living in units that possessed a Certificate of Conformance (COC) compared to children living in housing units that were required to have a COC but did not at the time of screening?
2. Among children living in any type of multi-family housing unit (2005-2009),what blood-lead level (BLL) variation exists among children living in a non-owner occupied unit compared to children living in an owner-occupied multi-family unit that is exempt from needing a COC?
3. Among children living in any type of multi-family housing unit (2005-2009), what blood-lead level (BLL) variation exists among children living in units that had a foreclosure (18 months pre- or post-screening) compared to children living in units that did not have any foreclosure activity?
It is anticipated that research results will catalyze additional dialogue about lead hazard policy and what changes are needed to help Rhode Island achieve its goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning.
RI DataHUB
In 2006, the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) was awarded a federal grant to improve the management of drug use and violence prevention. The ultimate goal of this project is to create an integrated data system that will enhance the State’s capacity to plan and implement appropriate services addressing prevention of substance abuse, violence and other related behaviors. This integrated and coordinated youth‐focused data system will build the capacity of community and state agencies to plan and deliver appropriate services to youth in a timely manner. Linking individual child‐level data from RIDE, DOH, and DCYF (and eventually Family Court and MHRH), ongoing development of the DataHub is allowing RIDE to achieve its project goals as well as serve as a multi-agency longitudinal data system for RI. The DataHub database and web portal is housed and maintained by The Providence Plan at http://www.ridatahub.org/.
For almost a decade the Providence Neighborhood Profiles have been a critical resource for government, community organizations, and people simply interested in learning about the City. With generous funding from the Rhode Island Foundation, ProvPlan is currently developing a new site- the Rhode Island Community Profiles- that will provide a host of information statewide. In addition to being our primary outlet for Census 2010 data, the site will also include selected indicators from several State administrative databases around issues of health, education, corrections, and child welfare. Site launch is planned for November 2011.
Building on an earlier Casey Foundation-funded effort to build a mapping system for foreclosures and abandoned property, the Providence Property Mapper currently under development has grown in scope to include City assessor and deeds data, a citywide derelict property inventory, and automated linking to news articles and historic preservation resources. With funding from the and the Healthy Kids Collaborative we are continuing to build out the site to include a programmable dashboard that allows users to subscribe to geographically-based alerts, include more City datasets such as building permits, and incorporate data on lead paint safety compliance. The pilot site with frequently-updated foreclosure data is accessible here.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). LISC has developed a Sustainable Communities initiative to evaluate and monitor the health of eleven U.S. communities. LISC will be focusing on the five dimensions of Sustainable Communities—real estate investment, family income and wealth, economic activity, education, and healthy environments and behaviors. Four of these communities are being analyzed in depth—Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Providence, and Minneapolis. Select neighborhoods in both Providence and Woonsocket are being evaluated by ProvPlan with a set of measures for tracking and monitoring community trends for demographic, social, and economic conditions.