Five new indicators added to CII website
In response to the recently completed report from the Regional Affordable Housing Task Force, three indicators have been added to the Housing category on the Spokane Community Indicators Initiative (CII) website. All are related to homelessness within the county: a one-day count of all homeless, the number of homeless families who have children, and the number of homeless youth under the age of 18. We also added one indicator to the People category, the number of families consisting of a single parent with at least one child. In the Health category, we added an indicator for the number of people with a disability living in the County. The additions respond to one of the Task Force's recommendations: to improve the tracking of sub-populations in the County likely to need affordable housing.

Now you can compare CII graphs to each other!
There is a new feature on the CII website: the Compare tool. Visitors can now do side-by-side comparisons of graphs of any indicator from any category on the website. For example, if you wanted to compare population growth in the City of Spokane with the same indicator for Spokane County, you would first chose the desired indicator from the drop down menus and then pick whether you want to view city or county data from the tabs below the menu. Comparisons can also be made between two different indicators. With over 150 indicators on the website to choose from - many with both county and city level data available - there are hundreds of possible combinations. The button for this tool is located in the bottom left corner of the CII website, or click here to try it out now.

IPPEA releases latest Monograph
The newest report in the Monograph series published by the Institute for Public Policy & Economic Analysis (Institute), A Comparison of Cluster Formation in Spokane and Similar MSA's, looks at cluster development and economic development in Spokane compared to seven other similarly sized Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) around the country. In addition, the monograph reports on how cluster formation has advanced in Spokane since 1990. Read the monograph on the Institute's website here.

Overweight and obesity as much a community problem as it is an individual battle
For many in the Inland Northwest, summer is a good time to play at our local parks or to take walks to a farmers market. For many more, summer is a good time to go cycling and hiking, and to be active outside after a long cold winter. Spokane stages numerous events for the physically active individual, for two of which - Bloomsday and Hoopfest - it is famous. However, for many local residents, adding physical activity into daily life is not always easy. more...

Taxable retail sales growth slips into negative territory for 2008 for the County
When people feel good about their finances and about the state of the economy in general, they are more likely to go out and spend money. When they do not feel positive about it, they tend to be more cautious, to hang back and wait to see what happens. This seems to be the case locally, in both the County's two largest cities and for the County as a whole, as taxable retail sales dramatically slipped last year. Indicator 3.3 plots this decline. more...

Hotel room demand driven by big scale events as well as long-standing local attractions
Spokane hosted the 29th National Veteran's Wheelchair Games last week and Hoopfest - one of the City's largest annual tourist draws - was in late June. The City will be gearing up for some big shows this coming fall and winter as well, including the return of the Broadway musical The Lion King, US and Canadian Women's Olympic hockey, and the US Figure Skating Championships, the last item to be held just before the 2010 Winter Olympics. These events and others like them - including Bloomsday - are important for local tourism related businesses such as hotels, restaurants, and retailers because they are a major source of revenue. Specifically, they attract visitors and attendees from beyond the County and State who likely would not have otherwise come to Spokane. more...

Interview with County Commissioner Bonnie Mager
Bonnie Mager is the Spokane County Commissioner for District 3. We asked her a few questions recently about how she, as a county commissioner, uses trend-based data and the indicators on the CII website. Our questions and her answers follow. more...

Federal appropriations bill to fund indicator projects in rural Eastern Washington counties
The Institute will begin work on two new indicator projects this summer that, when complete, will paint a numerical picture of four rural counties in the Inland Northwest. The Institute recently secured $190,000 from the Congress to conduct the work, administered by the Small Business Administration. The first project to be started will focus on Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille Counties in the northeastern corner of Washington, and a second project will focus on Grant County, located southwest of Spokane County. The goal of these two projects is to create a website for each region that will give them a first-time comprehensive, easily accessible data portrait of themselves.

Walla Walla Regional Vital Signs - Quality of Life Indicators underway
The Community Council, with the help of the Institute, will launch a new indicator website later this year that will give community members of Columbia and Walla Walla Counties and of Milton-Freewater, OR an idea of how well their region is doing on issues such as childhood poverty and crime rates. The Community Council will assign most of the 39 indicators chosen by the Council a grade ranging from poor to good, based on certain criteria, and will report whether the trend is improving, neutral, or declining compared to previous years. The overall goal is to create for the residents of the Walla Walla Valley a set of priorities and then work to find solutions.

CIC fall conference to be held in Bellevue, WA
The Community Indicators Consortium (CIC), a national network of individuals and organizations interested in learning about and implementing community indicators, will hold their seventh annual international conference at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, WA from October 1-2, 2009. This year's theme is "Community Indicators as Tools for Social Change." The conference will focus on four facets of effective indicator efforts: From Planning to Implementation; Creating Partnerships & Crossing Boundaries; Promoting Social Change; and Integrating Indicators & Performance Measures. There will be discussions within these four areas as they relate to indicator topics relevant to everyday life. For more information about the conference and to register online, visit the CIC's website here.