October 2008 Updates on PolicyMap

New on PolicyMap this month!

HUD NSP Data. Local and state agencies throughout the country are preparing grant applications to HUD for funding under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. HUD’s foreclosure risk scores (and more) are now available on PolicyMap. Find these under the new State and Local tab. Read more about this data from HUD in our blog.

A Richer Community Profile Report. It is no wonder political campaigns have been interested in using this report to localize campaign messages. Check out a sample here.

Subscribers can access an improved report with more information, such as vacancy and crime.

Great New Education Data:Look for these under the Education tab.

From the New America Foundation – School enrollment, students in poverty, reading and math proficiency, and state and federal aid for school districts nationwide.

From GreatSchools – School District test scores for 2005, 2006 and 2007 for standardized tests. (Available to subscribers only.)

Updated Vacancy data from the US Postal Service. For the first time, the USPS offers vacancy statistics broken out by residential and commercial properties – now available for 2008. Look for it in the Neighborhood Conditions tab.

Arts Employment Data. Where do people work in which arts fields and what do they earn (by state)? Thanks to the Urban Institute for providing the data for all to access. Find it in the Neighborhoods Condition tab, labeled Cultural Vitality.

New Obesity Data.State level overweight and obesity data from the CDC for the years 2000 through 2007. Look for this under the Health tab.

New Subscriber Data that is Publicly Available. Premium subscribers send us data to load into PolicyMap and then can choose whether to make it publicly available. New subscribers sharing their data this month include:

• New Jersey Housing Mortgage Finance Agency: Find NJ Building Permits and COAH Regions in the new State and Local tab.
• CommonBond Communities: Find the affordable housing that this upper-Midwest nonprofit has developed or manages. Like with other public site data, find these in the Add Sites menu.

Updated Free and Reduced Lunch Data: Find out what percentage of children are receiving Free and Reduced Price Lunches in school districts across the country for 2000 through 2006. Look for this under the Money and Income tab.

Coming Next Month!

New Functionality:

Embed map feature. Make your point and make your map all at once. With our new embed map feature, you’ll be able to make maps and instantly embed them on your own web site or online articles.

New Data:

State Legislative Districts nationwide: Use PolicyMap to talk with your legislators about what matters to you.

Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) for 2007! All PolicyMap users will soon have access to mortgage lending information for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Federally-designated Qualified Census Tracts and Difficult Development Areas.

Home sale statistics for Q1 2008! Subscribers will have access to home sale statistics at a neighborhood level annually for 2004, 2005 and 2006 with quarterly updates from Q12007 through Q12008.

Annual updates for many PolicyMap data sets such as County Business Patterns, SSI, Immigration and Bankruptcy.

As always, we urge you to register for free, explore subscription options or sign up for a quick online tutorial. Integrate the power of where into your work!

Watch a quick tutorial | Forward this message to a friend | www.policymap.com