Strength in Numbers: The New KIDS COUNT Data Center

Editor’s Note: This post is Part One of a series on the launch of the new KIDS COUNT Data Centerin Washington State. The series is written by our colleagues at Washington KIDS COUNT at the University of Washington. The work of KIDS COUNT intersects well with efforts of the Budget & Policy Center to highlight the importance of state investments.

Washington KIDS COUNT is pleased to announce the new KIDS COUNT Data Center. The KIDS COUNT Data Center is a new, on-line resource that contains hundreds of measures of child well-being covering national, state, and county information. The KIDS COUNT Data Center is updated throughout the year and is a powerful resource for policy makers, practitioners, and the media. The Data Center allows you to:

• Rank states, cities, and other geographic areas on key indicators of child well-being;
  
• Generate customized maps and trend lines that show how children are faring and use them in presentations and publications;
  
• Feature automatically updated maps and graphs on your own website or blog.

This week on schmudget, Washington KIDS COUNT will be highlighting indicators of child and family well-being from the Data Center to accompany the release of the 2009 KIDS COUNT Data Book: Counting What Counts.

Check out the new KIDS COUNT Data Center at http://datacenter.kidscount.org/wa