Arlington Data Matters Blog

Having control over your life – professional or personal – means managing those things that you can and keeping a close eye on the things you can’t. Both modes involve a certain degree of data. Keeping track of income and expenses, following the weather reports on the path of the hurricane, monitoring progress against your to-do list – these are all data. We have become increasingly reliant on those things we can measure, or quantify. But data doesn’t tell the whole story. Even when there is a ton of it. There is always the context to consider and data does not inherently have context. For example, if you track your budget and your bank statement or work report tells you that you have more money than you’ve spent you could conclude you have money to spend. But the report or statement doesn’t know about the extra refrigerator you now need because your daughter moved back in with you. Or your decision to bike to work every day and sell your car. The future depends on many things, and not all of them are quantifiable. View this TED Talk to hear a longer exploration of this important constraint.

There is a lot of value to measuring. And to using this data to help inform your decisions and gauge your success against your goals. So use County data, use data at home. But avoid the trap of thinking the data has all the answers.

We’ve published substantially revamped datasets from the Dept of Human Services’ inspections of Arlington food service facilities and commercial pools – click Food Service or Pools to view them.

We’ve published traffic summons and parking citations issued by the Arlington County Police Department – view here.

 

In June, the Virginia Congress passed new legislation around data sharing, open data and data privacy. The legislation also created the Commonwealth’s first Chief Data Officer (CDO). Recently, Governor Northam appointed Carlos Rivero to serve as CDO.

Per the legislation, Mr. Rivero will work first on “developing a project for the sharing, analysis, and dissemination among and between state, regional, and local agencies of data related to substance abuse, with a focus on opioid addiction, abuse, and overdose.” Did you know Arlington County has a group that is working to address the community’s addiction issues? The Arlington Addiction Recovery Initiative was formed in 2017 to address the rise in opioid-related issues in Arlington. Since then, the focus has expanded to include prevention. The group – comprised of Arlington staff and residents including law enforcement, criminal justice, treatment providers, schools, hospitals, non-profit agencies, family members and people in recovery – meets monthly. Meetings are open – contact Suzanne Somerville (703-228-7340) for more information.

The Chief Data Officer role at the state level is another sign of the growing role data is playing to help governments deliver better services, interact with constituents, grow economically and plan for the future. Data is not just to support a system or used for a project, it is a competitive necessity. Best wishes to Mr. Rivero in his new assignment – Arlington County looks forward to working with him!

County staff have been using data in decision-making, planning and performance management for years. Increasingly, this data is being published along with the announcement of the decision and the outcome of the planning. Here are some excellent resources on the County website – let us know how you use them and how they might be improved.

Arlington County Data & Research

Open Government Resources

My Arlington – Projects Map

Real Estate Property Search

Open Data Portal

GIS Mapping Center

FOIA Online

Bike Arlington

A-Z Services Directory

Staff Directory

 

Don’t know where to find the data you want? Submit a Dataset Request and we’ll help you find it.

We’ve added 2 new datasets which are Arlington County Trespass Tow Complaints and Arlington County Trespass Tows – view here.

Being literate means to be able to understand the meaning of written words. Similarly, being data literate means to be able to derive meaningful information from data.* Just as reading is a fundamental skill for everyone, understanding data has become fundamental at all levels in a workplace and even at home. Using data you can project revenue growth, measure performance, monitor internet usage, track your steps and manage your budget. How can you be sure you, your employees, your family members are data literate? Ask yourself these questions.

• Do you know what data to use for a particular purpose (e.g., right tool for the job)?
• Can you understand data graphs, charts and other visualizations?
• Do you critically examine your course of action in the face of new information?
• Do you have a basic understanding of data analysis tools and methods, and know when to use them?
• Can you catch when data is incorrect or is being, intentionally or not, misrepresented?
• Can you communicate your understanding of particular data to someone else, e.g., storytelling?

If you answered No to any of these questions, you are not alone. Data analysis is a fast growing area of study in college but going back to college is not the only way to bolster your data literacy. Build a spreadsheet in Excel and download a free version of Tableau and try it out. Dig online – there are numerous TED Talks, how-tos, and online classes to get you going. The simplest way to get good with data is to use it more and more – like riding a bike. Why not see how much water you’re drinking in the summer, how often the grass really needs cutting or how many hours you spend commuting? You’ll be surprised at what you find.

* paraphrased from techtarget.com

People are more than just numbers. But there are times when numbers are the best way to help people. That’s where Michael-dharma Irwin, quality assurance manager in the Arlington County Department of Human Services (DHS), comes in.

For more than three years, she has helped DHS programs quantify their impact on the community and coordinate their efforts. She also works with groups regionally and statewide to increase data sharing and transparency to improve County programs and service to residents.

Irwin was recently recognized for her contributions with the ACES (Arlington County Employee Successes) Award. She sat down to discuss her work, how it relates to the County’s priority areas, and how she helps DHS provide high-quality service to all Arlingtonians.

Michael-dharma Irwin

Q: Share a little about your role in the Department of Human Services.

A: The Department of Human Services offers services that help Arlington residents in many different areas of their lives. Our customers range from infants to senior citizens, and their needs span behavioral healthcare, support for basic needs, and public health services. So, we offer a diverse set of services. I work with programs across DHS to measure the impacts they’re having for residents in their daily lives. I also help coordinate efforts between our programs. When you have different staff working with a customer on so many different aspects of that person’s life, it’s important to bring them together and look at the person as a whole, or look at the community’s needs as a whole, to figure out how we can make the biggest difference.

Q: Transparency and data sharing are priorities for Arlington County. How have you worked to improve data sharing locally and regionally?

A: Within the County, I represent DHS on the internal data steering group, which is a new initiative to help enhance our data analytics capacity and support open data projects. One of the challenges DHS faces is that a lot of our programs are state funded or federally funded, and they require us to use data systems that provide limited reporting capabilities to the County. I’ve been working with a coalition of localities from around the state convened by the Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources to improve access to the state data.

Data sharing is important for DHS because we need to understand how we’re serving a person across different programs. Say we have a child who’s involved with the child welfare system, and their family also needs food stamps or a housing grant or behavioral health services. If the data in those systems can’t be shared, then we won’t have a complete picture of the factors going on in that child’s life. Sharing data also helps in planning services at the system level. For example, if we find that many of the seniors who receive home-delivered meals also need nursing supports to maintain their independence, then we can better coordinate outreach and services for those programs.

Q: One of your main responsibilities is developing performance measurement plans for DHS programs. How does that work benefit the County and its residents?

A: One of the challenges to using data in human services is that human services can be harder to quantify than some other services. If we’re working at providing mental health therapy or crisis stabilization or economic supports, how do we know that those programs are working? Performance measurement plans help our program managers define the outcomes that we want from a program, how we know if anyone is better off, and what measurements tell us if we’re meeting our own standards. Our performance measurement plans are key to our transparency initiatives. We’ve aligned our budget metrics with the performance measurement plans, and we publish them online. We also use them as a planning tool. In addition to data trends, every performance measurement plan includes recommendations about how we’re going to sustain high performance or make progress toward our goals.

Q: What other programs and initiatives have you worked on for DHS in the past year?

A: Customer service is a major focus for DHS. We want to make sure our customers access services as efficiently as possible and that they’re connecting to the right services to meet their needs. In the Bridges Out of Poverty initiative, we’re working with community nonprofits to understand the factors that can be barriers for people in poverty accessing services, and enhance our systems to reduce those barriers. I’ve had the pleasure of working with a group to improve data exchange systems—helping the nonprofits understand what services are available at DHS, helping DHS staff understand nonprofit programs, and working on ways to streamline information exchange to reduce paperwork for clients who need services from multiple organizations.

I’ve also been fortunate to be a part of the Child Care Initiative. I supervised the initiative’s Risk and Reach Study, a comprehensive analysis of the factors affecting children under 5 in Arlington—where they live, trends in the population, risk factors that impact them, and the resources Arlington currently has to meet the demand for child care. That study integrated a lot of U.S. Census Bureau data, along with state and local data. It’s the kind of analysis that many jurisdictions have to contract out, but we were able to complete it in house more efficiently.

Q: What excites you about the work you do for DHS and Arlington County?

A: One thing I noticed immediately when I came to work at DHS was the quality of our systems and our staff. Arlington County government has a very well-planned approach to major initiatives. It’s also a great pleasure to work with coworkers who are committed to their jobs and so highly qualified and passionate.

I also appreciate that the work we do has such broad impact. Before coming to Arlington County, I worked with nonprofits, where we had a direct and intense effect on the lives of a small group of people. I find it exciting to work for the County government because we can have a more systemic impact on the broader community—we can do a lot to improve the quality of life of residents throughout the County.

Q: What is your favorite thing about Arlington County?

A: I think Arlington is very diverse and vibrant. I enjoy everything the County has to offer, from the restaurants in Shirlington to the Gulf Branch Nature Center. There seems to be room for everyone in Arlington, and there’s a real commitment to making this a welcoming and accessible community for all.

i-Tree Eco Study Results datasets has been published to the open data portal – view here. These datasets contain a results of i-Tree Eco study, summarizing the economic and environmental value of all trees in Arlington County. These datasets are iTree Eco Study Results – Summary, 2016 iTree Eco Study Results – Invasives, 2016 iTree Eco Study Results – Species Distribution.

Reason #1: To help County agencies discover and use information stored in other agencies.

Imagine that as a Parking Planner for the County, you’re asked to prioritize which single-space parking meters should be replaced by more economical multi-space meters. You’d probably start by looking at current and historical parking space allocations and perhaps project a rate of growth. Based on prior years’ experience with a similar exercise, you know these estimates can be wildly off due to unknown circumstances like construction, road closures or legislative changes. This information, unknown to you, is well known to the County divisions that administer these services. Think how much more informed your estimates could be if you tied your metered parking data with construction and right of way permits and information from County Board meetings that impacts parking, and had it sent to you automatically. If this sounds like science fiction, it may surprise you know that it is in reality both simple and inexpensive to do.

A Data Inventory is a first step to making this happen. The inventory is intended to inform departments across the County that information exists that can help them to improve their services. You could search the Data Inventory for keywords – road closure, construction, parking – and find several datasets stored throughout the County. Then you could reach out to that dataset’s “owner” to gain access to that data. Arlington’s Department of Technology Services is working now to facilitate these processes with the goal of improving our services for the community.