Hello Community Partners,
We hope you, your families, and your teams are all well and finding ways to adapt, connect, and thrive during what can be a difficult time for so many.
Since we introduced the partnership of Source For Siouxland and Growing Community Connections on March 12, the importance of accurate, relevant data and inclusive, comprehensive planning has never been so apparent. As the nation started watching the COVID-19 numbers in Siouxland rise, many of us locally noticed data for our tristate region was being reported by county, but not for our community as a whole. As we all know, the distinction paints a very different and more useful picture for planning and responding. Source For Siouxland is now tracking tristate COVID-19 data and making the information available at this link weekly.
Additionally, Source For Siouxland is working with Siouxland CARES to identify and track data within our five focus areas that will inform our community’s recovery from the impacts of COVID-19. Those five areas – Economic Stability, Health, Education, Safety, and Quality of Life – have been and will continue to be affected by this pandemic. Our community’s ability to regain positive momentum in each area will be bolstered by Source For Siouxland’s leadership in utilizing community data, aligning programs and resources, and implementing actionable strategies to improve our data.
Data areas we expect to be heavily impacted by COVID-19 include:
- Trends of substance abuse and other risky behaviors (such as online high-risk behaviors)
- Mental health needs among all ages
- Summer Learning Loss + Corona Learning Loss
- The challenges and benefits of homeschooling while working from home
- Health, economic, and quality of life effects on underserved populations (minorities, newcomers, low-English, homeless/housing insecure)
- Crime trends – what is increasing (domestic abuse reports) and what is decreasing (such as calls to Child Protective Services because children are not with Mandatory Reporters, or burglaries since people are in their homes all day)
- Food Environment Index – how the pandemic is affecting access to food and our food systems (increasing demand on food pantries, job loss, kids at home vs free school lunch, lower inventory in stores, inability to get to stores without busses)
- Information dissemination across cultures, languages, and educational levels, especially when the usual channels are disrupted (schools, employers).
Of course, we would love your input about these and other areas that we may need to include, and hope you will be part of the solution as we make data-driven decisions that lead to improved community outcomes.
Your Friends at Source For Siouxland,
Erica DeLeon
Community Data, Community Planning, COVID-19 Data, Data, Growing Community Connections, Iowa, Local Data, Nebraska, North Sioux City, Sioux City, Siouxland, Source For Siouxland, South Dakota, South Sioux City