A Powerful New Online Tool: The Common Good Forecaster

On Wednesday, May 13, United Way and the American Human Development Project will release the  Common Good Forecaster™, a free online tool that lets people see for themselves how improving the education level has a positive impact on several key  economic and social measures.

The Common Good Forecaster projects how a change in the education profile of the nation, a state, or local community is linked to wide-ranging ripple effectsin ten critical social and economic indicators. For example, what would happen over time in a local community if the dropout rate were cut in half? The Common Good Forecaster shows how this would alter key factors in health (such as life expectancy and obesity rates), in financial stability (such as median personal earnings and the poverty rate), in community involvement (such as voting and incarceration rates), and even in education results for the next generation (children's reading proficiency rates). While education is vital for getting a stable and self-supporting job, the cascade of changes extends into many other non-economic quality of life issues.

On Wednesday, May 13, United Way and the American Human Development Project will release the  Common Good Forecaster™, a free online tool that lets people see for themselves how improving the education level has a positive impact on several key  economic and social measures.

The Common Good Forecaster projects how a change in the education profile of the nation, a state, or local community is linked to wide-ranging ripple effectsin ten critical social and economic indicators. For example, what would happen over time in a local community if the dropout rate were cut in half? The Common Good Forecaster shows how this would alter key factors in health (such as life expectancy and obesity rates), in financial stability (such as median personal earnings and the poverty rate), in community involvement (such as voting and incarceration rates), and even in education results for the next generation (children's reading proficiency rates). While education is vital for getting a stable and self-supporting job, the cascade of changes extends into many other non-economic quality of life issues.

With the Common Good Forecaster, you can ask many "what if" questions, and see forecasts based on those "what ifs." The Common Good Forecaster is the first tool to allow these types of projections to be made down to the county level for many of the variables.   

In addition to the online tool, United Way and the American Human Development Project have released two supplemental resources: the Common Good Forecaster: User's Guide,  which explains what the Common Good Forecaster is and how to use it, and Goals for the Common Good: Exploring the Impact of Education, a new report on the linkages between education and key social and economic variables. All can be found online at www.liveunited.org/forecaster or www.measureofamerica.org/ forecaster.  
 
At www.online.unitedway.org/ACGIndicators, you’ll also find talking points and the national press release.
 
If talking to the media, you might want to demonstrate a few pre-set scenarios to forecast changes for your state and county.   You can choose among four scenarios showing a positive change: in the number of people with less than high school completion, with a high school diploma or GED, with some college or an associate’s degree, or with a college or postgraduate degree. Then you can show how, for example, life expectancy is lengthened, the number of unemployed is reduced or children’s reading proficiency is improved. 
 
Local United Ways can link directly to liveunited.org/forecaster or measureofamerica.org/forecasteror share the sites withpartners, friends, and familyusing Twitter or Facebook.

The American Human Development Project works to stimulate fact-based public debate about and political attention to issues that affect people’s well-being and access to opportunity.  A hallmark of this work is the American Human Development Index, a measure that paints a portrait of Americans today and empowers communities with a tool to track progress in areas we all care about: health, education, and standard of living. The Project is an initiative of the Social Science Research Council and is funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. www.measureofamerica.org.  

The Common Good Forecaster, introduced at the national United Way Staff Leaders Conference in Detroit on May 13, is the first of several joint projects between United Way and the American Human Development Project. While this Common Good Forecaster focuses on the impacts of changing education levels, future Common Good Forecasters will project the ripple effects caused by improving financial stability and health in the nation.
 
For more information, contact Jeff Elder, United Way of America’s Director of Community and Social Research, at Jeff.elder@uwa.unitedway.org, or Rick Belous, UWA Vice President of Research, at  Rick.Belous@uwa.unitedway.org.