Thank you to Alexis Fitzpatrick for this article on Washington County's new data resource: Community Solutions Hub.
For the original article, please visit: HERALD MAIL MEDIA
San Mar Chief Executive Officer Keith Fanjoy, left, explains the new Community Solutions Hub alongside the United Way of Washington County's Courte Van Vorhees.
Alexis Fitzpatrick - Herald Mail Media
An idea several years in the making designed to highlight area needs was opened for public use Monday. The Community Solutions Hub for Washington County is a project made possible by partnerships between San Mar Family and Community Services, the United Way of Washington County and Meritus Health. According to San Mar Chief Executive Officer Keith Fanjoy, the Hub is an online open source for data to easily showcase needs in Washington County to aid community organizations and others looking to help.
The data platform, which will live on the United Way’s website, includes a large amount of data from various cited sources.“But the data is not the whole story,” Fanjoy said. “I don’t expect the site to be the end-all, be-all to make a decision. This is just the beginning.” Instead, the plan is to use the data to inform decisions, such as grocery store placement in food deserts or the best locations for public transportation, or during grant writing to bring more money into the community. Courte Van Vorhees, the director of community impact with the United Way, said he has already used the site to help write three grants. “You have everything right there,” he said.
The data is divided into nine sections: economy, education, environment, government and politics, health, public safety, social environment, transportation, and an index of social needs. Within those sections, Fanjoy said there are subcategories which go down to the census, county and zip code levels. “Everyone in the community can potentially use the data dashboard for their own needs,” Fanjoy said. Allen Twigg, executive director of behavioral and community health at Meritus Health, said while all of the information on the Hub is publicly available, the site brings everything together to be used easily for reference. The site is run through New Jersey-based company Conduent, which keeps the information current by updating when new data is available. “If we don’t know where we are, how can we really make improvement in working together?” Twigg said.
The Hub also include a section called Promising Practices, a growing database about documented, evidence-based approaches to improve community health and quality of life. The section outlines what has been done locally and elsewhere and the outcome, along with contacts, according to Fanjoy. Van Vorhees said the goal is to see the local collaborations and resources grow so anyone interested in a subject can see what is already being done in Washington County. This includes contributing to the local 2-1-1 resource lists for areas ranging from food and utility assistance to addiction prevention and rehabilitation programs. The website calls the Community Solutions Hub a “foundation” for future data needs and something to help assess the county’s “long-term impact on identified community needs.”
Fanjoy said the idea for the data platform started after seeing the amount of effort it took to come up with data for Bester Community of Hope. He said to be more proactive, the data would need to be more readily available. The Hub was presented to Healthy Washington County and the Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday. San Mar contributed grant money to the project, while Meritus also helped fund the project. Fanjoy said United Way gave resources and offered to keep the Hub on its site. The Community Solutions Hub can be accessed at unitedwaywashcounty.org/communitysolutionshub. For more information, contact Van Vorhees at cvanvorhees@unitedwaywashcounty.org.