News & Updates
Insights from the Hawaii COVID Contact Tracking Survey
This is the first in a series posts highlighting results from the Hawaii COVID Contact Tracking Survey conducted by the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center (NDPTC) and the Pacific Urban Resilience Lab (PURL) at University of Hawaii at Manoa. The Hawaii Data Collaborative has partnered with this group to share regular analyses and updates from this survey in the coming weeks.
Early Modeling Suggests Substantial Increases in the Financial Vulnerability of Hawaii's Families
This is the first in a series highlighting results from our new synthetic population modeling project (it’s so new, we do not even have a name for it yet). What excites us most about this modeling approach is its ability to use existing data to simulate the complexity and rapidly shifting nature of life and work in Hawaii. If you have not done so already, we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the approach here.
[Updated] Can Hawaii's Hospitals Meet Peak COVID-19 Demand?
We have been working to evaluate multiple modeling tools for projecting peak hospital demand and capacity sufficiency in Hawaii. The University of Washington (UW) Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) model was identified as best suited for projecting Hawaii hospital capacity in the coming weeks.
Understanding COVID-19 Transmission in Hawaii
To help illustrate the role of social distancing measures in preventing the spread of COVID-19, we have been working to adapt current transmission models for Hawaii… you can see how existing mitigation efforts are projected to influence the spread of the virus, as compared to no action and more aggressive measures… These forecasts were generated using an accessible modeling tool created by researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland. This model is updated continuously as new information about COVID-19 becomes available.
The 2020 Census – It’s Hard to Overstate How Important This Is for Hawaii
Census Day is April 1st. What does that mean? It means by that date every household in Hawaii, and across the U.S., will have received an invitation to complete the 2020 decennial Census online, by mail, or by phone. Why should we care about a complete Census count? Here are three primary reasons.
Seeing Red: Simplifying the Search for Meaningful Differences Across Geographic Communities
Waldo Tobler, an American geographer, once said: “Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things.” In my last blog post on diversity indices, we found that high diversity index scores across the state made it hard to draw any concrete conclusions about variations in racial, ethnic, and birthplace diversity across Hawaii’s census tracts. Tobler’s words of wisdom, his “First Law of Geography,” instead directs us to compare data at a more local scale.
Hawaii Financial Health Pulse Report Provides In-Depth View of Residents' Financial Struggles
A study released yesterday further substantiates the financial hardships faced by, and resilience exhibited by, people living in Hawaii. The Hawaii Financial Health Pulse, sponsored by Hawaii Community Foundation and Bank of Hawaii, is a localized version of the U.S. Financial Health Pulse, which examines the financial health of Americans. In close collaboration with local advisors, The Financial Health Network surveyed more than 1,600 Hawaii residents to better understand their “financial health”—that is, how they spend, save, borrow, and plan in their financial lives.
Newly Released CDC Estimates Reveal Community-Level Health Indicators
Recently the 500 Cities project, a collaboration between the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, released small-area estimates of health outcomes, risk factors, and healthcare usage for the 500 largest cities in the U.S. While health measures are often reported at the state level, the 500 Cities project seeks to equip local health stakeholders with more granular estimates of community health data, thereby informing important policy, planning, and programmatic decision-making.
Bite-Size Data Viz: State of Hawaii Operating Budget
The State of Hawaii’s Operating Budget is important for many reasons: it reveals the state’s revenue sources and expenses, dictates the investments our policymakers choose, and provides an overall picture our collective priorities. Recent budget data for fiscal years 2014-2019 is available on Hawaii’s Open Data portal as an Excel spreadsheet that includes more than 500,000 rows of individual line items.
Bite-Size Data Viz: Hawaii Department of Education School Status & Improvement Report
The School Status & Improvement Report (SSIR) is one of several major reports produced by the Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE) as part of their effort to provide regular, easy-to-understand accounts of school performance and progress across the state.
With Help from PolicyMap, Bikeshare Hawaii Tailors Biki Access for Low-Income Residents
You’ve probably seen them: teal blue bicycles that locals and visitors alike have come to count on for quick, easy, and affordable transportation. Launched in 2017 and operated by Bikeshare Hawaii, Biki bikes have become a familiar sight throughout downtown Honolulu, numbering 1,300 bikes at 130 self-serve locations.
Three Questions to Ask Before You Start Collecting Data
Whether it’s talk of “big data” in the business world, predictive data analytics in the public sector, or data-informed program strategy among nonprofits, data collection and analysis are increasingly seen as requirements for savvy organizations. As our reliance on technology continues to grow, you might be feeling a sense of urgency about jumping on the data train. Identifying the right tools for data collection suddenly feels critical to your company’s success. But where to begin?
Measuring Diversity In a Diverse State: How Useful are Diversity Indices in Hawaii?
We may recognize our diversity anecdotally – that we live, work, and play with people from a wide variety of backgrounds – but is it possible to capture how diverse a place is through data and numerical evidence? Diversity indices attempt to do just that, and have gained popularity in recent years. A diversity index is a score, derived from population data, that measures the number and abundance of different groups.
The Danger of Letting Data Define the “Thing”
There is growing interest from a broad range of local stakeholders in better understanding our local challenges through data. This cadre of stakeholders believes that making community indicators more accessible will be incredibly useful for building a better understanding of well-being – and that understanding can shape the actions we take to improve our communities. If decision makers can get a high-level sense of conditions and outcomes related to health, education, economic opportunity, housing, etc., they can make more informed decisions regarding how to allocate resources to improve disparities.