The First Annual State Data Conference:
Assessing the Availability of Connecticut State and Local Data
May 10, 1999
This conference was sponsored by the Consortium for Public Policy Research at the University of Connecticut.
The goal of this conference is to begin a conversation about what conference participants recognize to be a serious issue in the state–the lack of complete, readily available and easily accessible data for the state of Connecticut–and to discuss methods of dealing with the problem, including the establishment of a state data center in Connecticut. Dr. Fred Carstensen noted that good data is the bedrock for intelligent policy discussion and complete understanding of many issues including economic development, demographic trends and social health statistics.
Connecticut had a state data center in the past, but it was a casualty of state budget cuts. Some of the current efforts undertaken by individual agencies to organize data and make it readily accessible are recognized as quite good, but in terms of establishing a state data center, we must begin again nearly at ground zero. [The State’s Office of Policy and Management retains a "State Data Center," but its staff, once eight, is now but one, William Kraynak, and its function is now as the liaison with the U.S. Census; it is not responsible for state or local level data.]
The desired outcomes of this conference are an understanding of the data issues in the State of Connecticut, and the laying of a broad foundation for a new state data center in Connecticut. Conference participants and speakers discussed what data is currently available and what additional data is needed. In addition, conference participants left with an understanding of the available opportunities for creating a state data center and for founding a new, vastly strengthened state data system in Connecticut that can serve both the public and private sector.