Media advisory: New interactive tool to measure disproportionate impact in communities across Colorado
Note to reporters: Media interested in attending the Dec. 13 CODI Indicator launch event can RSVP by contacting Allison Sylte at allison.sylte@colostate.edu.
Given that Colorado is home to everything from mountain resorts to urban centers to sprawling ranches on the Eastern Plains, addressing the needs of communities can’t be a one-size-fits-all approach.
The Colorado Disproportionate Impact Indicator (CODI) aims to provide policymakers, planners and service providers with the data they need to recognize the unique social, economic and environmental stressors in a given area, providing information to help them tailor their solutions to the needs of underserved populations based on where they live.
“We wanted to build something that would be accessible to people who are working to solve community-level challenges for a broad swath of people,” said Physllis Resnick, the executive director and lead economist for the Colorado Futures Center.
The center, which created CODI in partnership with the Colorado Energy Foundation and Civic Innovators, will demo the new tool on the CSU Spur campus during a special event at 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 13.
CODI, which analyzes publicly available data, shows the community level stressors across Colorado using 12 different factors:
- Environment.
- Economic.
- Social.
- Food.
- Health.
- Health care.
- Transportation.
- Workforce.
- Classroom.
- Early care and education.
- Housing.
- Household.
It color-codes census tracts showing their levels of disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations, with blue representing a low level of disparity and red denoting areas with challenges.
The tool also allows policymakers to compare the stressors in different areas, and see which parts of the state have the most vulnerable populations based on these 12 factors.
“We are hoping that it provides a resource for anyone who’s doing any kind of community-type work,” Resnick said. “Whether you’re a planner or making legislation, this will provide a baseline to understand what’s going on in a relatively small geography.”
About the Colorado Futures Center
The Colorado Futures Center is a 501(c)(3) organization out of the Colorado State University System that is dedicated to research and evaluation that informs fiscal and public policy issues impacting community and state economic health and quality of life.