SPRINGFIELD – Following the launch of the Pioneer Valley Data Portal last month, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission has been pleased with the amount of usage it has received, as numerous non-profit organizations and municipalities in western Mass. are now utilizing it.
The site seeks to provide key regional economic, planning, and workforce data, and is a collaborative effort of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), the Economic Development Council of Western MA (EDC), the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County (REB), and the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) known as ROADS, or Regional Organizations Advanced Data Sharing.
“The website was created to provide a database of shared information that is commonly used between our organizations and requested externally, but is not readily accessible,” said David M. Cruise, President and CEO of the REB after the site’s launch.
Cruise added that once the initial database was created, the partnership’s next phase was for the public to have access to this data, since “business decisions, grant submissions, media articles, and policy decisions are data-driven.”
“This is a great example of how regional organizations in the Pioneer Valley are collaborating to use our resources in a more efficient and coordinated manner,” said Timothy W. Brennan, Executive Director of the PVPC, last month. “Sharing approaches to data use is just one of many ways that our organizations communicate and strategize with each other on a regular basis.”
Now, a month into it’s existence, folks are still excited about the site as a resource, said PVPC Principal Planner and Manager Molly Goren-Watts.
“We saw a big boost in use right away, but what I’ve been hearing from everybody I’ve spoken to is that people have been excited about having access to so much data,” she said Friday. “People are using it to research population and demographic information regarding ethnicity and population trends.”
Goren-Watts added that local municipalities are using the site as a resource when filling out grant applications.
“Most of the people who are using it aren’t calling me for information now,” Goren-Watts said. “We don’t know what they’re using it for, we just know they’re using it.”
She said the data and data sets will continue to be updated on a yearly basis.
“The regional planning boards meet quarterly to discuss this collaboration,” she said. “This collaboration is looking for ways to put together more data sets for the region (on the site).”
Goren-Watts said that the PVPC itself is also looking to develop another website that will present data in a more visual manner for the general populace.
“We want to develop another page that will allow people to visually compare data with mapping and graphics, rather than just downloading data for analysis,” she said.
