Video | Using Data to Help Children in Critical Populations

(2018, February) | Useful to Parent Centers and school systems to improve outreach and service provision to low-income and underserved communities.

This 5-minute video highlights the benefits of Minnesota’s Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System and how it came to be developed and used to improve outreach to underserved, “critical” populations and to connect those populations to needed services.

The story | When the United Way of Central Minnesota noticed that essential services such as preschool programming and nutrition assistance were not reaching growing Latino and Somali communities, they sought data for guidance. According to the staff at local and state organizations, combining data from different programs and agencies that serve young children allowed policymakers and program decision makers to better answer critical questions about the needs of families in their communities, as well as questions about services and programs. Building the data system or developing a process to link existing data was the important first step. After the data were integrated, they were analyzed and interpreted to improve programs, services, and policies.

The video is accompanied by a 2-page case study report that describes how the integrated data system was created, who was involved, and lessons learned.

Watch the video, at:
http://www.ecedata.org/resources/video-minnesotas-data-story/

Download the 2-page case study report, at:
http://www.ecedata.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ECDC_MNcasestudy.pdf

Explore other resources available at the Early Childhood Data Collaborative, including state-level data systems and ECDC’s publications, at:
http://www.ecedata.org/