DataHaven Awarded $300,000 Hartford Foundation Grant to Support Efforts to Collect and Provide Community Access to Data

As part of its commitment to supporting the availability of high quality, rigorous data to inform action on issues critical to the region, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has awarded a three-year, $300,000 grant to DataHaven. The grant will provide flexible support to assist DataHaven in its mission to empower people to create thriving communities by collecting and ensuring access to data on well-being, equity, and quality of life. 

For the past 30 years, DataHaven has worked with many partners to create programs that make information more useful to local communities. Accordingly, they have developed new statistical approaches and data collection methods that can disaggregate data by factors like geography, race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and lived experiences such as disability and incarceration, as well as the intersections of those identities. The organization is a formal partner of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, a network based at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC.  

"We are so thankful for this award from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, which continues their longstanding support for DataHaven in its role as a trusted hub for conducting large statewide surveys and sharing community-specific data across Connecticut in innovative and meaningful ways,” said Mark Abraham, the organization’s Executive Director. 

DataHaven strives to create a more equitable data ecosystem that improves community health and wellbeing. DataHaven centers the lived expertise of residents most affected by structural racism and reflects the experiences of those closest to needs, assets, and solutions that exist in our community. DataHaven’s Community Wellbeing Index and Town Equity Reports are some of the richest and most current information sources available on issues related to equity, economic security, and community health. Available for all 169 Connecticut towns, these resources are widely used to support municipal and state policy and planning. Information gathered through these programs has been used to secure tens of millions of dollars in federal funding for Connecticut communities during the past few years. 

Producing equitable data requires a community-driven approach and significant attention to ensuring that data are easy to use and widely available. DataHaven’s work is informed by a multistakeholder partnership of more than 100 academic and health care institutions, local and regional government agencies, philanthropic funders, and community-based organizations that need to regularly collect, analyze, and share data about the community. The work is also informed by residents and smaller community organizations including DataHaven’s Advisory Council of 300 participants who help to choose items to include in the DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey questionnaire. The organization also provides free technical assistance to hundreds of agencies and nonprofits each year; its staff serves on many state and national advisory councils to contribute technical advice.

In addition to its statewide charter, DataHaven has been supporting more in-depth community initiatives related to these topics within specific cities. For example, within the City of Hartford, DataHaven receives support through federal grants that have funded the North Hartford Ascend Pipeline (i.e., Promise Neighborhood) and Welcome Home Hartford program. DataHaven also has partnered with nonprofits and researchers to secure funding for data collection and community engagement on topics such as mental health services, the impacts of gun violence, and access to greenspace and healthy foods in Hartford, New Haven, and other Connecticut cities and towns. 

“Community change can only be driven with reliable information; therefore, the Hartford Foundation is committed to supporting and sharing high quality, impartial data about our region,” said Hartford Foundation’s Director of Learning, Evaluation, and Capacity Building Kate Szczerbacki. “This grant to DataHaven contributes to the expansion of free technical assistance and data access it provides to the community. These funds will allow DataHaven to be more responsive to the constantly evolving need for measures that most resonate with policymakers and advocates working towards policy and systems change. With a collective understanding of our state and region, we can better address the barriers that impede equitable progress in our communities and develop solutions to ensure that every resident has an opportunity to thrive and contribute to Connecticut’s future.”

Additional information can be found at DataHaven's website, at https://www.ctdatahaven.org.

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving is the community foundation for Hartford and 28 surrounding towns. Through partnerships, the Foundation seeks to strengthen communities in Greater Hartford by putting philanthropy in action to dismantle structural racism and achieve equity in social and economic mobility. Made possible by the gifts of generous individuals, families and organizations, the Foundation has awarded grants of more than $948 million since its founding in 1925. For more information, visit www.hfpg.org or call 860-548-1888.