NNIP Welcomes the Community Innovation and Action Center at University of Missouri-St. Louis as its Newest Partner

[NNIP-Urban]

The National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) is pleased to announce the acceptance of the Community Innovation and Action Center (CIAC) at University of Missouri-St. Louis as the newest Partner organization. CIAC joins Rise as a partner organization representing St. Louis, Missouri. 

 

CIAC engages with community partners to co-create knowledge, connections, and tools that move towards just, equitable, and democratic systems in the St. Louis region and beyond, working through the university to tackle complex data, policy, and practice problems. CIAC’s mission is driven by the conviction that the best solutions emerge through substantial participation, intentional collaboration, and high-quality information in response to community-defined priorities. 

 

CIAC emphasizes a distinct and detailed focus on equity and anti-racism as it braids research, technology, and policy analysis by expanding their role to include not just data analysis and infrastructure, but also community engagement, participatory research, strategy development, and community-based experiential learning. Some examples of CIAC’s local data work are:   

• CIAC is collaborating with the St. Louis Vacancy Collaborative  to create tools that will enable City stakeholders and community members to identify priority properties for different actions and coordinate across agencies.  
• CIAC is a key partner to the Community Health Commission of Missouri in the Access to Care data effort - helping both with more efficiently acquiring health record administrative data and with developing qualitative data infrastructure for the region.  
• CIAC led a team of university researchers, staff at St. Louis City departments, and the region’s largest home repair providers to shed light on the enormous unmet need for home repairs in St. Louis. CIAC adapted a national methodology to measure home repair needs that had yet to be expanded to mid-sized cities.  
• CIAC provides ongoing data services to three other local organizations: Rise, the United Way/St. Louis Community Information Exchange and the Children’s Funding Project.  

For more examples of CIAC’s efforts in St. Louis, visit their NNIP Profile. One of the roles of the NNIP network is to promote the development of community data services in new cities. Learn more about becoming an NNIP partner.