2016 Impact Summit

Three presentations on the challenges of using regional-scale goals and indicators to guide local actors:
1) Gulf Coast Workforce Report Card (Ramirez/Harvey) The Gulf Coast Workforce Board and its operating affiliate Workforce Solutions are the public workforce system in the 13-county Houston-Galveston region of Texas. In 2006, the Gulf Coast Workforce Board produced the first Report Card as a tool to gauge the region's competitiveness in relation to similar metropolitan areas across the United States. We will show how a series of community round-table discussions have created a new and unique opportunity for the Workforce Board and employers to interact with education leaders around the shared interest of helping young people succeed in a global economy. 
2) Sustainable Jersey - Connecting Local Implementation to Statewide Indicators (Solomon/McDermott)   Two related challenges commonly face community sustainability programs: (1) to establish clear linkages between local actions and measurable progress towards sustainability at higher scales, and (2) to assemble of a network of communities and partners that enables such collective progress to be made.  This presentation will explore how Sustainable Jersey, a network and movement of over 400 municipalities across the state of New Jersey, has made strides towards meeting these challenges. 
3) MAP Dashboard: How a Partnership is Transforming Southern Arizona (Pullen) This presentation will describe how the Making Action Possible (MAP) Dashboard has successfully measured the well-being of Southern Arizona and facilitated decision making across a wide range of socio-economic indicators. The MAP fills a gap in our community by providing a common collection of information upon which to evaluate performance and take action. This presentation will include an example of how the MAP Dashboard has influenced discussions on education issues within our community and best practices for delivering accurate well-timed data. The presentation will conclude with an example of how the MAP Dashboard has informed discussions within our community about where we stand, how we compare, and where change is needed.