Louisville is not only my hometown, it is my college city, and the metro in which I have conducted published research. One of the questions that continues to circulate around Louisville and other metros is: Which metro areas are our true peers? We decided to take on this challenge of
The original excitement for Data Release Day has now transitioned into the serious work of building base files with the data and accounting for why we keep at that work of curating datasets. The organizations we serve have many cares and concerns, so we see our role as doing some
Today, a lot of data enthusiasts and analysts are celebrating the release of 2024 American Community Survey (ACS) Five-Year Estimates data. The datasets tied to this new release are critical for understanding neighborhood dynamics such as rental and home-buying affordability, the number of cost-burdened households, and the demographic characteristics of
Despite our best intentions to establish environments where tension-free collaboration and cooperation flourish, the real world and its conditions, always seem to interfere. There is no way around it, every organization is composed of the people making it run, and each person brings with them a self-identity, a structure of
So far, I have discussed mostly disadvantaged and fully disadvantaged neighborhoods in Metro Atlanta and how both neighborhood types relate to each other. On the next rung of the socioeconomic ladder are middling neighborhoods. Middling neighborhoods are those that better Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) measures on exactly two metrics. The
What a time it is to grow and sustain an ethics of care in this ‘struggle for existence’ enshrining social climate. This struggle for existence operates on the assumption that there are different groups of people in competition with each other, which spurs the logic of erecting and enforcing boundaries
Previously, I explained the differences between mostly disadvantaged neighborhoods and fully disadvantaged neighborhoods in Metro Atlanta. Outside of mostly disadvantaged neighborhoods being distinguished for gaining one statistical foothold relative to their metro area—versus none—several other characteristics were detailed. Most outstanding in this regard were the geometric distances between
Imagination is a powerful thing. It seeds possibilities that move us beyond dispiriting status quos and galvanizes transformative action. In support of the imaginative souls who are troubled by the current state of housing yet committed to seeing greater equity in this realm—I am spearheading a service that provides
Our next and final series solely dedicated to Metro Atlanta neighborhoods will focus on Metro Atlanta’s five neighborhood types as revealed by our Core Socioeconomic Realities dataset framework. This framework analyzes Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) neighborhoods through a comparative lens that lines up neighborhood-level socioeconomic statistics with MSA-level statistics.
Doing the work that moves society to a higher plane is difficult, but it is easier in the company of other change-committed souls. It becomes even easier when these same souls are able to play distinct and constructive roles in the business of change-making. And it becomes even easier when
Many souls are moved by the internal sense that we can do better when it comes to how the average person relates to their economic environment. Individuals and households with low-to-moderate incomes and limited wealth reserves—navigate their pursuit of happiness in the midst of rising grocery prices, constraining housing
In this effort to capture the meaning of relational, we now understand that it essentially speaks to connection. When we broaden out a bit and apply this to humanity, to have a relational outlook on social matters is to connect current happenings to relationships, or the lack thereof. It also