Youth Today: Paint By Numbers

By Karen Pittman, April 2001

Technology doesn’t always improve lives or even save time. So I’m always delighted to find quiet ways in which technology is making a positive difference.

Enter Deborah Dillan, youth services coordinator in the mayor’s office in Phoenix. With the help of a half-time information technology specialist and an able assistant, she has quietly brought information, order and insight to the city’s youth planning efforts. Starting with the programs funded by the city, Dillan and her team have created a database that not only catalogues programs but tracks who they serve, what they offer, where and when they offer it. She hasn’t tackled the how and how well questions yet — but she will.

The database has the GIS (geographic information system) as its core, mapping software that allows users to pinpoint the location of populations, facilities, services and problems — and to overlay this information to generate useful pictures. She can tell you how many and what types of programs and services are available in each of Phoenix’s 134 separate school districts. She can produce charts and graphs that show how programs and services match population needs. She can give you the capacity and actual enrollment of the programs. She can overlay crime, poverty and population data to show connections and trends. If she had the data, she could overlay gang boundaries and bus routes on the programs and services maps — demonstrating the fact that distance is not always best measured in miles.

Neat stuff, you say, but why the excitement? Lots of reasons. First, there’s major thinking behind the design. Building a database that separates the who (organization/program) from the what (services and opportunities) is a huge step forward. It allows communities to track variations within similar organizations (e.g., recreation centers), and to acknowledge and access organizations that do not have “youth” in their titles (e.g., the city government, which offers youth internships and summer jobs). Tracking the where and when is equally important. A neighborhood’s “youth-focused” opportunities may look very different from 3-6 PM than from 6-10 PM, or very different during the school year than the summer.

Second, there’s quiet power behind the data. Dillan recounted an example: Seeing that a school had multiple programs operating, officials played the duplication card, questioning whether all were needed. By running the data by age, time and activities and services, Dillan and her staff were able to show that the programs were serving different populations and different needs. No advocacy here, just information — information that opened up the possibilities that there were actually too few programs going on to meet the needs of the students and families in the area.

Third, the system is being built to last. The data being collected are coming in through systems and processes that are (or are being) institutionalized. The database can be updated annually, and information on individual programs or organizations can be updated as needed. Dillan was adamant on this point. “We won’t invest in data collection activities that can’t be replicated,” she said. “No matter how interesting the information we get, it’s useless if it can’t be updated.”

Fourth, the system is being built to be used. Dillan and her team are quietly demonstrating the ease and power of having accurate information about what the city is offering youth, and it is changing conversations. As the demand grows, it would be possible to expand the universe from city-funded programs to organizations that receive grants, to all organizations (governmental or nonprofit) that work in the city. And every indication is that the demand will grow in Phoenix and in other cities. If your city has a similar system in place, let me know.
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Pittman, K. (2001, April). "Paint By Numbers." Washington, DC: The Forum for Youth Investment. A version of this article appears in Youth Today.

Karen Pittman is executive director of the Forum for Youth Investment.