Here are some frequently asked questions about ELGL’s Diversity Dashboard project. We’ll continue to update this post as we get more questions.
I thought this data was already being collected?
Some professional associations collect some data for their members only. There’s not one comprehensive source of race, gender, and age data regardless of form of government, or size of community.
What if people don’t want to share information about their race, gender, or age?
We respect that, and will ensure that all information that is extrapolated from public records is appropriately flagged as not being self-reported. But the initial approach is to always get self reported data from the CAOs and ACAOs.
What’s the rush – a 30 day funding period seems fast?
ELGL has been kicking around this program on a volunteer basis for the last six months – and it’s worked well! We have nearly-complete data sets for four states. But we’re ready to head into 2018 with a full, nationwide data set and we think that crowdfunding this project is a way to light that fire and get things moving faster.
Have you approached any grant-making organizations for funding?
Yes. But we haven’t seen any urgency in making this dashboard happen so we’re taking it directly to ELGL members for their support. Our members know two things firsthand:
2. Comparing and contrasting between local governments of similar size and telling stories of successes (and failures) will move the needle toward more representative leadership than relying on fragmented datasets.