Kids Well-being Indicators Clearinghouse

Summary

Project started on Dec. 5, 1998 (Completed)

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The Kids Well-being Indicators Clearinghouse (KWIC) project advances the use of indicators of children's health and well-being as tools for policy development, planning, and accountability at the state, county, and community levels by making the necessary data available in a more timely and accessible way.

Working with the New York State Council on Children and Families, CTG developed a well-organized, Web-based, data rich electronic resource that brings existing indicator data and supportive resources together in a publicly accessible information repository, and expands both the kinds of data available and its usefulness for smaller jurisdictions and communities.

This new resource supports users as they gather and use indicator data to assess needs, design and improve programs, and sharpen their focus on outcomes.

Scope of Work

The Problem

In New York State, billions of dollars are expended every year to provide services designed to benefit children and families. The combination of public tax dollars (federal, state, local) and private philanthropic contributions offer an extensive array of services to address a range of social issues.

These services include public education, family support and preservation, delinquency and drug prevention, mental health and chemical dependency treatment, juvenile justice, early childhood education and child care, services for the disabled, employment and training, health maintenance and wellness, and recreation and social development. However, despite the intentions of the many individuals and organizations (both public and private) that plan, fund, and deliver services, little is known about the combined impact of these services, and whether they collectively or individually reflect wise use of these resources.

The New York State Touchstones project grew out of the State's commitment to address this information need. Developed by the 13 member agencies of the NYS Council on Children and Families, Touchstones established a set of goals, objectives, and outcome measures that the Council's member agencies use to determine whether current services are helping to solve the problems facing children and families in New York. Touchstones includes such vital information as the number of low birth weight babies, children living in poverty, youngsters without medical insurance, high school dropouts, and teen pregnancies that occur in the state every year. The core data from Touchstones is made available each year in the Kids Count Data Book.

New York has embraced the use of county level measures as critical to responsible monitoring and evaluation of welfare reform. There are a number of important reasons for this development. First, like many other states, welfare is administered in New York by 57 county-based local districts plus New York City. These districts need a timely mechanism to assess the impacts new policies are having on children, particularly given the increased flexibility within the new welfare laws. As noted in New York's evaluation plan - "Framework For Comprehensive Evaluation of Welfare Reform" submitted to the Legislature in January 1998 - a major component of the plan is the development of performance monitoring and decision support capability at the local level through the creation of county level performance indicators. Such careful attention to key child outcomes is particularly important for government in a period of rapid policy changes that could have important impacts on its young citizens.

More rapid access to expanded levels of county-based information will become a key to monitoring and evaluating the combined impact of service programs in areas such as health care and education, and of social changes such as welfare reform on children within New York and throughout the nation.

The Project

In order to address the need for more rapid and timely access to indicator data the Council on Children and Families sought and received funding from the US Department of Health and Human Services to undertake the Kids Well-being Indicator Clearinghouse (KWIC) project.

The KWIC project developed a well-organized, Web-based, data-rich electronic resource that brings existing indicator data and supportive resources together in a publicly-accessible information repository. It expanded both the kinds of data available and its usefulness for smaller jurisdictions and communities. This new resource was designed to support users as they gather and use indicator data to assess needs, design and improve programs, and sharpen their focus on outcomes.

The goal of this project was to further advance the use of indicators of children's health and well-being as tools for policy development, planning, and accountability at the state, county, and community levels by making the necessary data available in a more timely and accessible way.

Specifically, the KWIC project:

  • makes Touchstones indicator data and a variety of supporting resources available to all interested agencies, organizations, and individuals through the World Wide Web; and
  • enhances available data and its usefulness for smaller jurisdictions and communities by deploying new data analysis tools that will allow users to manipulate data and generate reports to meet their particular needs.

The successful completion of this project provides a new vehicle for more effective information sharing among government agencies, private sector organizations, and the general public. It supports and advances access to indicator data across agencies - a mechanism that did not exist within New York State prior to this project.

Publications & Results

Reports

Related Websites

Partners

Government Partners

  • New York State Archives and Records Administration
  • New York State Council on Children and Families

Academic Partners

  • Chapin Hall Center for Children, University of Chicago
  • Charles  McClintock, Professor, Associate Dean, Department of Policy Analysis & Management, Cornell University

Nonprofits and Foundations

  • Annie E. Casey Foundation

Center for Technology in Government

  • Donna Berlin, Internet Coordinator
  • Donna Canestraro, Project Support Manager
  • David Connelly, Graduate Assistant
  • Meghan Cook, Project Management Specialist
  • Sharon Dawes, Director
  • Theresa Pardo, Project Director
  • Jochen Scholl, Project Support Manager
  • Fiona Thompson, Research Associate
  • Derek Werthmuller, Director of Technology Services

  • Carol L. Anderson, Associate Director, Cornell Cooperative Extension
  • Cheryl Backus, Research Scientist III, NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse
  • Doug Bailey, Business and Industry Outreach and Interagency Coordinator, New York State Education Department
  • Barbara Blum, Director, Research Forum on Children, Families & the New Federalism National Center for Children in Poverty
  • Marc Brandt, Executive Director, NYS ARC, Inc.
  • Susan Brandt, Executive Director of Public Information, NYS ARC, Inc.
  • Eric Brettschneider, Director, Agenda for Children Tomorrow
  • Joseph L. Bruno, Senate Majority Leader, NYS Senate
  • James Crucetti, Commissioner, Albany County, Department of Health
  • Elizabeth Currier, Executive Director, Leatherstocking Education on Alcoholism & Addictions Foundation.
  • Sheryl Dicker, Executive Director, Judicial Commission on Justice for Children
  • George DiFerdinando, Director, NYS Department of Health
  • Newell Eaton, Director of Program & Policy Planning, NYS Office of Children and Family Services
  • John J. Faso, Assembly Minority Leader, NYS Assembly
  • Ruth Fennelly, Executive Director, Families Together
  • Gail Flanery, Executive Director, New York Association for the Education of Young Children
  • Mental Health Assoc. of NYS, Inc.
  • Marlene Froehlich, NYS Association of Counties
  • Rebecca Gardner, Team Leader Comprehensive Health and Pupil Services, NYSED
  • Robert Gregory, Executive Director, New York State Association of Counties
  • Jill Hamburg, Planning & Assessment Specialist, Region IIA - HS-QIC
  • Sheila Harrigan, NYS Public Welfare Association, Inc.
  • Donald Hernandez, Center for Social Demographics
  • David A. Hunt, Executive Director, NYS Child Care Coordinating Council
  • Alan Kowlowitz, Manager Electronic Records Services, New York State Archives
  • Liz Lane, Director, NYS Library
  • Sharon Lansing, Research Analyst, NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services
  • Charlene LaReau, NYS Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities
  • Diane Larter, Deputy Director, Monroe County DSS
  • Elizabeth O' C. Little, Assemblywoman, 109th District
  • Anna Lobosco, Program Planner, NYS Developmental Disabilities Planning Council
  • Lenora Maglione, Program Analyst, Legislative Office Building
  • Naomi Marsh, Associate in School Health Education, NYS Education Department
  • Terry Maxwell, Executive Director, Rockefeller Institute, NYSFIRM.
  • Michael Medvesky, Director, NYS Department of Health
  • Matt Murell, President, Association of NYS Youth
  • Gail Nayowith, Executive Director, Citizens Committee for Children of New York, Inc.
  • Lorraine Noval, Special Assistant to the Commissioner NYS OTDA
  • Bruce Oswald, Project Director, NYS Office for Technology
  • Lawrence Paspi, Community Program Specialist, NYS Office of Children and Family Services
  • Paul Puccio, Executive Deputy Commissioner, NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance
  • James Purcell, Senior Policy Analyst, NYS Council on Children and Families
  • Davin Robinson, State Communities Aid Assocation
  • Bob Scardamalia, Chief Demographer, Empire State Development
  • Karen Schimke, President/CEO, State Communities Aid Association
  • Mary Shaheen, Director Center for Social Demographics United Way of New York State
  • Sheldon Silver, Assembly Speaker, NYS Assembly
  • Laurie Stein, Juvenile Justice Coordinator, NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services
  • Josephine Swanson, Interim Assistant Director, Cornell Cooperative Extention
  • Kryra Woudstra, Citizen`s Committee for Children of New York City, Inc.
  • Michael Zuber, Director, NYS Office of Mental Health

Participants

13 NYS Council on Children and Family Member Agencies:

  • New York State Office of Children and Family Services
  • New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance
  • New York State Department of Health
  • Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled
  • NYS Office of Advocate for Persons with Disabilities [ Dead Link ]
  • NYS Office for the Aging
  • NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse
  • NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services
  • NYS Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives
  • NYS Education Department
  • NYS Department of Labor
  • NYS Office of Mental Health
  • NYS Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities

NYS Touchstones/Kids Count: Technical/Data Team

  • Deborah Benson, Director of Policy Bureau, NYS Council on Children and Families
  • Michael Medvesky, Director, Public Health Information Group, NYS DOH
  • Suzanne Sysdek, Program Research Specialist, NYS DOH
  • Pam Sheehan, Program Research Specialist, NYS DOH
  • Sharon Lansing, Senior Policy Analyst, NYS DCJS
  • Barry Donovan, Research Scientist III, NYS OASAS
  • Newell Eaton, Director, Planning and Policy Development, NYS OCFS
  • George Falco, Director, Office of Policy and Performance Evaluation, NYS OTDA
  • David Bryant, Regional Associate in research and Evaluation, NYSED
  • Ron Danforth, Regional Associate in Education Information Services, NYSED

NYS Touchstones/Kids Count: Executive Level Guidance Team

  • Douglas E. Bailey, Business and Industry Outreach and Interagency
  • Coordination, VESID, NYSED
  • Deborah Benson, Director of Policy Bureau, NYS Council on Children and Families
  • George DiFerdanando, M.D. Director, Division of Family and Local Health, NYS DOH
  • Newell Eaton, Director, Planning and Policy Development, NYS OCFS
  • Sharon Lansing, Senior Policy Analyst, NYS DCJS
  • Charlene La Rerau, Director of Children's Services NYS OMRDD
  • Michael Medvesky, Director, Public Health Information Group, NYS DOH
  • Lorraine Noval, Special Projects Coordinator, NYS OTDA
  • Paul Puccio, Executive Deputy Director, NYS OASAS
  • James Purcell, Senior Policy Analyst, NYS Council on Children and Families
  • Laurie Stein, Juvinile Justice Coordinator, NYS DCJS
  • Michael Zuber, Director, Bureau of Children and Families, NYS OMH

 

Funding Sources

This project was supported in part by a subcontract of a US Department of Health and Human Services grant to the Council on Children and Families; Grant Number 98ASPE319A.