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Looking beyond Spokane… Sightline Institute, a Northwest sustainability think tank, just released the 2007 Cascadia Scorecard. The Scorecard tracks the region's performance on seven key social and environmental trends--from sprawl and pollution to energy. Check out the Cascadia Scorecard.

A: I don’t see indicators as a series of numbers, but to me every indicator is a measure of human successes, endeavors, and frailties. If you look at indicators in that context, you begin to see a snapshot of various conditions in out community – not based on data but on the human condition. I also see indicators as an more...

These days, most people understand that what happens during a child’s early years greatly impacts his or her ability to be successful in the future. A toddler’s experiences and environments influence the development of language, reasoning, problem solving, social skills, behavior, and emotional health. That’s one reason to care about early learning. Another reason is economic. What’s becoming clear to national more...

Moving on… Lisa Capoccia, CII’s first project coordinator, begins a new position with Kauffman and Associates, Inc. in October. She told us she’ll miss her colleagues but promises to maintain data-geek status by frequenting the CII website and searching for bonus data. Good luck Lisa!

Focus Group wrap-up… Spokane CII will conclude its second round of community focus groups October 31st, wrapping up with Culture and Recreation. Over 150 people representing health, education, economics, environment, transportation, public safety, and housing participated. Some were also involved in the original focus group series three years ago. Focus group recommendations are used to update and improve the indicators on the website.

Walla Walla measures… Walla Walla is launching its own community indicators effort and asked Spokane to help. This Fall, EWU’s Institute for Public Policy & Economic Analysis will partner with the Port of Walla Walla and other local groups to develop measures for key community priorities.

We have the data… now what?
That’s the question community indicator groups across the country have asked after their data work has been made public. Locally, people are asking a similar question: for Spokane County as a whole, what are our goals and how do we know if we’re reaching them? At the CII conference last April, 83% of evaluation more...

Interested in city level data? Now you can follow trends in economics, education, transportation and more for the City of Spokane and the City of Spokane Valley. In some cases, the trends of the two cities match those of the county. More often than not however, trends diverge. To see a complete list of the more than 60 indicators with city level information, go to Indicators at a Glance on the CII website.

The indicator Average Annual Wage measures the wages and salaries of individual residents and provides insight into the well-being of Spokane’s regional economy. In the past ten years, the gap in average annual wage between Spokane and Washington State increased substantially. In 2006, Spokane’s average wage was $34,004; 79% of Washington State’s ($42,881). In 1996, it was 85% of Washington’s level. more...

Voter turnout is an important measure of citizen engagement, and Spokane’s election season is in full swing. So how are we doing? In last year’s election, 67% of registered voters cast ballots in Spokane County compared to 65% in Washington State. Over time, Spokane County’s voter turn-out in November elections has consistently mirrored that of the state of Washington, usually exceeding it more...

In early 2007, a typical first-time home buyer household in Spokane County had 71% of the income to quality for financing for a typical starter home. A first-time home buyer household is one with household income at 70% of the median. Compared to Washington State, where first-time home buyers had only 52% of the income, things appear positive for Spokane. But compare this to 1998, when Spokane’s more...