New data tool for social change available for Coachella Valley residents

The future of the Coachella Valley can be right at your fingertips.

“Neighborhood Data for Social Change,” is a new portal by the USC Price Institution and “Lift to Rise,” a local nonprofit. The portal is free and open to the public and provides everyday residents, social changers, and nonprofits with information on what’s going on in your own neighborhood.

“I hope that people can use this data to make some policy changes. To make housing more affordable, food more affordable and really just improve peoples quality of life,” said Elly Schoen, data and project manager at the USC Center for Social Innovation.

NDSC launched today with the help of organizations like United Way, and local Riverside development agencies. It’s a celebration of three years of compiling data and hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants. The portal has topics like education, employment, food insecurity, health, and housing. It also features community narratives to break down some of the valley’s most prominent issues

“One of the most helpful places to start is our data stories. We have one on rent burden and immigration, those are two kind of major issues “Lift to Rise” has identified as people in the Coachella Valley should learn more about, care about, and work on,” Schoen said.

One of the unique features of this tool is the ability to look at trends over time, for example, take a look at the number of people uninsured in Coachella Valley. In 2012, you’ll notice a large red portion. Jump to 2016 after the passage of the affordable care act, you’ll notice orange, meaning more people now have health insurance across the valley.

The NDSC isn’t your average search engine.

“We have Google for that right, we don’t need another data repository but what we need something that helps engage communities in terms of telling and understanding their communities,” said Gary Painter, of the USC Price Center.

This tool will help explain and reveal local challenges and opportunities.

“For us, it’s not an end, it’s a means to having a conversation about what’s actually happening, for binding and coalescing partnership to think about what we might do together,” said Heather Vaikona, CEO of Lift to Rise.