{"id":40856,"date":"2022-01-25T01:03:23","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T06:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/?p=40856"},"modified":"2022-01-24T15:32:09","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T20:32:09","slug":"data-for-the-people-athens-wellbeing-project-helps-pinpoint-areas-of-civic-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/data-for-the-people-athens-wellbeing-project-helps-pinpoint-areas-of-civic-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"Data for the people: Athens Wellbeing Project helps pinpoint areas of civic concern"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”text-container first-paragraph”]When the novel coronavirus pandemic struck in 2020, it delivered an array of unforeseen hardships including shutdowns, unemployment and overburdened hospitals in communities across the world.<\/p>\n

Athens-Clarke County, however, had a head start in reacting to its community\u2019s needs, thanks to an ongoing research project from the University of Georgia\u2019s College of Public Health<\/a>. The Athens Wellbeing Project<\/a> (AWP), which surveyed local residents in 2016 and 2018, provided detailed data and analysis at the neighborhood level that allowed community leaders and institutions to deal with variables ranging from food insecurity to vaccination outreach to WiFi distribution for its citizens in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data wouldn\u2019t have been available before AWP, and the capacity to analyze that data and get it to those partners quickly was also made possible because of the researchers on our team,\u201d said Grace Bagwell Adams<\/a>, an associate professor in the College of Public Health who started the Athens Wellbeing Project in 2015 as its lead investigator. \u201cThe pandemic has made it especially clear for our community stakeholders how useful the data can be. We have applied it multiple times in the context of food security and emergency food distribution and other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly Girtz, mayor of Athens-Clarke County, concurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already knew where those challenge areas were, so we didn\u2019t have to reinvent the wheel in the midst of a crisis,\u201d Girtz said of the household data provided in two previous AWP surveys. \u201cWe already knew where deficits were.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”40862″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” el_class=”container”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”text-container”]<\/p>\n

The next phase of wellbeing<\/h2>\n

Now the Athens Wellbeing Project has launched a third survey, utilizing postcard mailings, email outreach and special data-collection teams that partner with nonprofit shareholders for vulnerable populations.<\/p>\n

The stated mission of Phase 3 remains exactly the same: \u201cto empower the Athens community with meaningful data that will lead to more informed decision-making, improvements in service delivery, and greater quality of life for our citizens.\u201d\u00a0Bagwell Adams, now an\u00a0assistant dean for outreach, engagement and equity at CPH, said AWP collects\u00a0data across five domains: health, housing, community safety, civic vitality and education.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying our best to get meaningful data into the hands of our community stakeholders\u2014the school district, the local government, the police department, and our hospital systems, as well as local non-profits,\u201d said Bagwell Adams. \u201cMost communities look at each of these data points in isolation rather than breaking the silos down among these domains. That\u2019s a mistake, because if we want to understand any areas of these human services deliveries, we have to look at all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AWP survey provides a holistic snapshot of the community\u2019s needs and assets over time at a neighborhood level so it can better inform policies and help deliver the services needed for area households to shift, as Bagwell Adams puts it, \u201cfrom surviving to thriving.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wealth of information already collected in Phases 1 and 2 has gone a long way toward that goal, Girtz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe breadth of topical areas that are contemplated\u2014housing, childcare needs, perceptions around public safety, employment needs\u2014to have that 360-degree snapshot of the community is good,\u201d said Girtz. \u201cI think without AWP we would have some general ideas about what community needs are, but we wouldn\u2019t be able to drill down to the neighborhood level.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”40858″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” el_class=”container”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”text-container”]<\/p>\n

Local data, local impact<\/h2>\n

The impact of the project could be measured in concrete ways even before the pandemic hit.<\/p>\n

The Clarke County School District was aware of high rates of absenteeism and tardies by students and teachers at Hilsman Middle School, but it didn\u2019t know why. AWP data helped to identify the area around HMS as one of the most uninsured\/underinsured and among the more financially fragile in Athens.<\/p>\n

That led to a community health center on site at Hilsman, in partnership with the Athens Neighborhood Health Clinic, to service students and teachers, decreasing the time students missed school to see a doctor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data helped to drive innovation for us,\u201d said Lawrence Harris, the chief of community engagement and strategic partnerships in Clarke County schools. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen attendance go up for staff and students at Hilsman. It\u2019s unfortunate the pandemic hit a year after the health center opened \u2026 but since reopening we\u2019re able to test staff and students on site as well as the community\u2014almost an onsite COVID command center for testing and vaccinations.\u201d<\/p>\n

AWP data also informed the school district when students were forced to attend school remotely from March 2020 through May 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the pandemic we used the wellbeing data for understanding which families and neighborhoods might not have access to WiFi or consistent access to wireless internet. So we used those reports to figure out how to deploy our hotspots and WiFi buses,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wellbeing project has been an amazing partner. We\u2019ve used the data for our local school governance teams to not only see what\u2019s happening within the walls of our schools but with the families that reside in the neighborhoods around their schools so they can address other gaps that we would not traditionally notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other examples in which the AWP benefitted Athens-Clarke County residents:<\/p>\n