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February 2016
Zoom in on North Dakota Compass – Your City at a Glance
ND Compass launches the all-new City Profiles for cities with population of at least 1,000 people. The city profiles are a great addition to the already popular geographic profiles! The profiles pull the most recent data points across Compass topic areas into one table to provide a snapshot of the city’s most important indicators.
To address the needs of many small and rural communities in North Dakota, the ND Compass team launches the all-new City Profiles for cities with population of at least 1,000 people.
North Dakota Compass provides a common foundation of data and presents a holistic portrait of the state and its quality of life for the state as a whole, for its regions, counties and major cities. However, most indicators were not available for cities other than metropolitan and micropolitan areas. Funding from the Bush Foundation made it possible to create more customized and local solutions for small and midsized communities.
To obtain social indicators for community development, grant proposals, decision making, and need assessments, small communities are spending valuable resources compiling information from different data providers to assemble a meaningful set of indicators. Most small and midsized communities are not well positioned to undertake such an exercise or they do not have the resources to accomplish it. Yet, such information is vital to assess the needs of communities and monitor change.
New City Profiles provide local numbers for a variety of topics. The profiles pull the most recent data points across Compass topic areas into one table to provide a snapshot of the city’s most important indicators. In addition to measures for topics actually present on the website (i.e., demographics, aging, economy, health, housing, workforce), the profiles include new topics such as immigration (e.g., number and percentage of foreign born people) and transportation (e.g., commute time). More topics and data will be added in the near future.
City profiles can be viewed through the Geographic profiles section of the ND Compass website. Geographic profiles can be accessed from the homepage by clicking the map on the right side or also from the top right corner under the Profiles section.
ND Compass profiles are available for a variety of geographies, the state of North Dakota, the 8 state planning regions, Native American reservation areas, 53 counties, metropolitan and micropolitan areas, 47 state legislative districts, and NOW cities with populations of at least 1,000 people.
View All Profiles
The introduction of the city profiles also provided the opportunity to redesign the geographic profiles landing page. The new layout will give users easier access to the profiles whether on a desktop, tablet, or mobile phone. In addition, we are showcasing the new “search bar,” which will allow users to easily pull up a profile without having to scroll through the list.
The city profiles are a great addition to the already popular geographic profiles! Profiles are effective resources for nonprofits to enhance fundraising efforts, for foundations to allocate resources for maximum impact; for businesses to understand needs in recruitment and retention; for the public sector to set strategy to address community needs; and for community leaders to inspire action and improve quality of life.
Do you want to know what the data are saying about your city?
Don’t wait…Look up your city today!
Center for Social Research
North Dakota State University
Compass created by:
Wilder Research
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