Have you taken a look at the Kids Count Data Center recently? The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families just completed a significant update of the indicators available for Wisconsin children on the Kids Count Data Center. The update makes it easier for advocates, policymakers, grant writers, and other people interested in child well-being to find useful information.

The Kids Count Data Center includes information on child well-being at the local, state, and national level. The site includes indicators in the areas of demographics, education, economic well-being, family and community, health, and safety and risky behaviors. Let’s take a look at how the Kids Count Data Center could be used. Let’s say you are interested in birth outcomes in Clark County, Wisconsin. Using the Data Center, you can see that 5% of Clark County children born in 2010 were low birthweight, meaning they weighed less than 5.5 pounds. That’s lower than the state rate of 7% of babies that were born at low birthweight.

You can also chart how the percentage of babies in Clark County born at low birthweight has changed over time, and how Clark County’s rate compares to the state average. From the chart, you can see that the share of babies born at low birthweight has stayed relatively constant in Wisconsin since 2005, while it dropped somewhat in Clark County over the same period. And then you can export the chart for use in your own publication or blog, like I did with the chart below.

The Kids Count Data Center includes a variety of indicators that relevant to a wide array of advocates. If you haven’t yet had a change to check out the Data Center, you should do so – you could find something there that is useful to your work.

Tamarine Cornelius