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research. Intermediaries would be needed to develop research capacity in the community. The potential for cooperative centers can be seen in the example of the Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee, a coalition with more than 200 local members (including the local HUD field office) that created the Community Information System (Box 3.2).
Most of the COPC projects rely on interactive mapping to distribute data. Providing access to data over the Internet reduces the level of technical sophistication necessary to create basic maps; however, users who lack Internet access or have slow Internet connections are at a disadvantage. Furthermore, users are limited to available data. Finally, map-making is part art, part science, and a lack of expertise can result in maps that distort the data they are intended to present.
BOX 3.2Milwaukee’s Community Information System
The Community Information System in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, facilitates access to data and builds the capacity for community and non-profit organizations’ data use. The center provides access to data and training in the use of data; and works closely with its partners to build a sustainable neighborhood data clearinghouse, offer data and GIS services on demand to neighborhood organizations, build the capacity of local organizations to organize and interpret data, and use technology to create tools to lower the costs of accessing and analyzing data. Rather that log on to a web site, community users work closely with the expert staff of the center to identify research questions, negotiate partnerships to share data, develop maps to present the data, and build capacity to use the data and maps to influence public policy and address urban problems and issues.
The Role of PD&R in Data Dissemination
As outlined earlier in this chapter, PD&R plays an active role in the interagency work that HUD is doing in the colonias, in relationships with other HUD clients and partners (such as urban researchers and community groups), and in dissemination of spatially enabled and housing-related data with R-MAPS. In the past, some GIS efforts at HUD such as Community 20/20 were hampered by a lack of technical input. Updating and maintaining data for Community 20/20 may have proved difficult in part because no program office at HUD had clear responsibility or ownership of the initiative.
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