2000115-Strengthening-Communities-with-Neighborhood-Data

24 Strengthening Communities with Neighborhood Data
should also be viewed as credible by its diverse audiences, a reputation
that is earned by consistently providing unbiased data and analysis.
The NNIP partners illustrate the range of institutions that demonstrates
these characteristics and can play the role of local data intermediary
(see table 2.1 and figure 2.2). 10
Among NNIP partners, 29 are individual institutions. Of these,
• nine are community-oriented university departments or research
centers;
• six are freestanding nonprofits that perform data intermediary
work exclusively;
• eight are subunits of freestanding nonprofits that perform the data
intermediary work along with broader community improvement
or direct service missions;
• three are government agencies (a library, a public health department,
and a regional planning agency); and
• three are local funders (e.g., a community foundation).
The remaining seven partners are formal collaborations of multiple
local institutions in the above categories, with five of them a partnership
of two organizations. Several collaborations involve partnerships
between an entity based in the central city (nonprofit or university center)
and the planning agency for the metropolis as a whole. This collaborative
arrangement facilitates the presentation and use of data at
differing scales.
Some of the strongest NNIP partners are freestanding organizations
whose work focuses only on the data intermediary functions described
earlier in this section. However, other NNIP partners are a program
within a large local institution (such as a multipurpose nonprofit, a university,
or a community foundation) rather than a freestanding entity.
The main benefit of this model is the prospect of sustainability over the
long term. Program sustainability derives in large part from the stability
of the underlying institution itself, but it also derives from the possibility
of financial benefits (some overhead and in-kind support) the larger
institution may be able to provide.
Local institutions that form coalitions to join NNIP usually come
together because when combined, their differing capacities allow them
to perform all the data intermediary roles. For example, one institution
may specialize on the information system side, while another specializes