SRQ Daily Columnist Teri A Hansen is president and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation, whose Gulf Coast Community Indicators project can be found at www.GulfCoastIndicators.org.

Lists and rankings are all the rage these days. And they can provide valuable snapshots of a slice of our community’s life. A top-beach ranking, for instance, reinforces what we love here and provides an undeniable boon to tourism boosters. Recent county health rankings confirmed that we’re doing well, but also raised some red flags about looming challenges. 

Then there are those lists built on top of business services in real estate, finance, and the like. Both Sarasota and Bradenton were among the 10 “nerdiest small cities” in the country, said one (tongue-in-cheek), conjuring images of coders, computer start-up types, and the comic-book stores they favor. But our MSA ranks 98 out of 100 job markets for STEM professionals, said another. So which is it? And where did that data come from anyway…?

Sure, such snapshots are fun. And they’re great for headline writers too. But in our Instagram age, they’re often ephemeral as well. How do we really know where our community stands, what we should focus on, and how to measure progress. 

I submit Gulf Coast Community Indicators as a good place to start. This new “state of the community” website tracks and analyzes 74 different indicators—measures that help to describe an economic, social, environmental, or cultural condition in our community over time. Together, they can tell the story of our area, helping us to more clearly see our strengths and challenges.

Gulf Coast Community Foundation developed and will maintain this website to provide a common set of data and information about our region and its communities. Areas covered include our economy and workforce, health, education, and more. The site tracks commonly defined metrics used across all communities (think unemployment, housing affordability), as well as measures that tell us about characteristics special to our Gulf Coast.

The new site covers four counties—Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, and DeSoto—and breaks out data for their municipalities too. Adjacent state and national figures enable users to compare conditions and progress. And it’s all presented and analyzed in context, so we can start to see how different indicators affect one another and inform our strategies to improve.   

Gulf Coast Community Indicators is rooted in a data-analysis approach that our Board of Directors has been using and refining for half a dozen years. If you’re familiar with our periodic “regional scans,” which we’ve used to identify trends, inform funding decisions, and recommend areas for regional focus, consider this their evolution. Our Board wanted to transform our investment in better understanding regional data into an interactive, up-to-date community-wide resource that anyone can use to learn, plan, and act.

We’re heartened by the reception so far, with several organizations saying they’ll use this new tool in their ongoing work. Who knows, maybe Gulf Coast Community Indicators will even bolster our region’s rep among the nerd set!

SRQ Daily Columnist Teri A Hansen is president and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation, whose Gulf Coast Community Indicators project can be found at www.GulfCoastIndicators.org.