Posts by Sarah Eisele-Dyrli
CTData Conference Recap: How can we "Do No Harm" with our data visualizations?

CTData hosts a monthly gathering of Connecticut data users, the Equity in Data Community of Practice, who are supporting one another to identify ways we can practically integrate equitable practices into our data work. This group hosted an engaging presentation by Alice Feng and Jon Schwabish, co-authors of the report, Do No Harm with Data: Applying Equity Awareness in Data Visualization. You can watch the video, read the brief highlights, and access the links that were shared during the session in this post.

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CTData Conference 2021 Recap: Census Data Tools

As the Census State Data Center, we have the opportunity to learn about all sorts of census data products that are not widely known. For CTData Conference 2021, we wanted to bring some tools that are relevant for life as it is now, during the pandemic. There have been major floods in Connecticut in some unexpected places. And of course the pandemic has brought suffering that has been unequalled for generations. The products we share with you, the Community Resilience Estimates and the Pulse Surveys, give us ways to understand both the risks in our communities and the impact in the state to these challenges. Click to learn more.

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The Effect of Covid on Organizations in the Hartford Region

How has the coronavirus pandemic affected different groups in Connecticut, and especially the Hartford region? What are people doing to prevent its spread, and what do people know about the virus? As part of the Putting Local Data to Work project through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urban Institute, CTData began working with three of these organizations (Sudanese American House of CT, Family Life in Education, and Hartford Health Initiative) to identify ways to support them as they served their constituents in their response to and recovery from the pandemic.

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Not Sure What to Say? Messaging to Help Increase 2020 Census Responses in Your Community

As we’ve spoken with people during the last couple of months about census outreach, one theme has become clear: many people still have hesitations about completing their 2020 Census questionnaires. Reasons include not realizing that the census brings funding to their community, feeling doubtful that funding would be distributed, or reluctance to provide personal information to the federal government.

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Join Us in Demanding an Accurate Census Count

A lot is going on in our lives right now, but we hope you will take 5 minutes to join us to support a fair and accurate census count. Like you, we at CTData care about an accurate count in Census 2020. There is funding, representation, and data at stake. We are concerned that the U.S. Census Bureau has recently shortened the timeline for the decennial count and that Congress isn’t funding census operations at a level that meets the needs in Connecticut and other states.

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New Business Registrations Now Passing 2019 Numbers

As Connecticut businesses begin to open their doors, new business registrations in the state have been steadily rising for the past 12 weeks. When comparing data from 2019 to 2020, new business registrations are higher now than in the same week of 2019. Though most weeks have lagged behind 2019, with Week 12 (the week of March 22, 2020) being the lowest, 2020 registrations began passing 2019 in the past few weeks.

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Mental Health in a Pandemic: Data Suggests Greater Need for Services and Resources in Connecticut

“How are you?” This seemingly standard question has become increasingly hard to answer. Every day, we see or experience the horrific implications surrounding Covid-19 whether it’s death rates, rising confirmed cases, skyrocketing job loss, or simply not being able to hug a friend or family member. We can’t fully understand the health and wellbeing of our residents during this time without examining mental health. In this analysis, we look at how different populations in Connecticut are faring when it comes to mental health.

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Data Tools to Help You Get Out the Count

As the response rate in Connecticut nears 65%, our recent analysis shows that there are still many tracts that are struggling to increase their self-response rates. While we don’t typically think about the world around us as census tracts, they allow us to really focus our efforts on encouraging people to be counted in very specific areas.

There are two tools you will learn about in this post. First is the U.S. Census Bureau’s own Response Rates map. The second is the Census 2020 Hard to Count Map. I use both for different purposes, and by the end of this post, you will be using them, too.

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Connecticut’s Self-Response Rises, but Many Tracts Are Struggling

Our analysis of Census 2020 self-response rates in Connecticut by tract with demographic characteristics found that many tracts in Connecticut are struggling with their self-response rate. These include rates lower than Connecticut’s average among our major cities, tracts with over 50% Hispanic or black residents, tracts with fewer home-owners and more multi-family homes, tracts that received bilingual census mailings, and tracts with less Internet access. Learn more about the details and resources you can access to support these tracts.

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How are Households in Connecticut Being Impacted by Covid-19?

On April 23, the U.S. Census Bureau began collecting data on the effects of COVID-19 on American households, called the Household Pulse Survey. The survey explores: loss in employment income; expected loss in employment income; food scarcity; delayed medical care; housing insecurity; and K-12 educational changes. Connecticut saw the biggest increase between the first two weeks in the delay of medical care. In addition, over 50% of households have experienced income loss since March 13, 2020.

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Seven Connecticut Towns Pass 2010 Self-Response Rate

Connecticut remained in 15th place among the 50 states this week. As of May 12 the self-response rate was 62.6%, getting us closer to our 2010 final self-response rate of 69.5%. Each of the municipalities that have the highest self-response rates were within 4 percentage points of their final 2010 rate as of May 12, 2020. However, seven towns in Connecticut that have surpassed their 2010 self-response rate as of May 12, 2020 get to celebrate. Sprague reached their 2010 rate (43.8%) earliest on April 15. This town also saw the large surge from their 2010 rate, at 57.4% as of May 12, over thirteen percentage points above their 2010 rate. Colebrook met their 2010 rate and joined the club as of May 9.

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Connecticut Passes 60% Mark in Census Self-Response

As of Monday, May 4, 2020, Connecticut’s self-response rate hit 60% and moved the state up to 15th place among the 50 states. Last week 91, or 54% of Connecticut’s towns, had self-response rates at or above 60%. This week, 119, or 70%, of our towns are above 60% self-response rates. Tolland claimed the top spot again with a self-response rate of 76.5%. Other towns with a high self-response rate included Marlborough (75.9%), Burlington (75.1%), Orange and Granby (74.4%), and Cheshire (74.3%).

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The Majority of Connecticut’s Towns Have Self-Response Rates Above 60%

As of Monday, April 27, 2020, 54% of Connecticut’s towns had self-response rates at or above 60%. While last week, 28 towns had self-response rates at or above 60%, this week, 91, or 54% of Connecticut’s towns, had self-response rates at or above 60%. Tolland claimed the top spot again with a self-response rate of 72.4%. Other towns with a high self-response rate included Marlborough (71.4%), Burlington (70.7%), Cheshire (69.9%), and Simsbury (69.6%).

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Windham County Sees Highest Jump in Self-Response Rate in Connecticut This Week

As of Monday, April 20, 2020, six of Connecticut’s towns saw a week-over-week increase of more than 12%. A week ago on April 13, Windham County had the lowest self-response rate at 45.7%, putting it in last place among Connecticut’s counties. However, as of April 20 it came in second-to-last with a 50.4% self-response rate, with Litchfield County slightly lower (49.6%).

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