Science for Georgia’s Data for Georgia program joins communities, data science students, public health students, and experienced science communicators to tell actionable data stories that communities can use to create change. 

There are many publicly available datasets that can be used, but they are not easily identifiable and / or able to be used together. Consequently, health, environmental, and economic issues with evidence-based solutions are left unaddressed. This is especially noticeable in historically marginalized communities.

Communities know that something is happening in their neighborhood, but they need facts to back up the anecdotes. Sci4Ga works with communities to define actionable questions to be answered, builds an appropriate semester-long internship / capstone program, guides the team through generation of  actionable information, and then reports out to the community. 

The overall focus producing information that is:

• true – backed by science facts and data that Sci4Ga is confident in
• relevant – applicable and contextualized to community needs and concerns
• concise – short and to the point
• actionable – empowers personal and community-wide change

The residents of South Fulton knew something was happening in their community, esp. related to point-source pollution. SEJA organized to take action. They started working with Sci4Ga. Sci4Ga interns compiled facts about pollution sources, the impact of this pollution on human health, and created a pamphlet enabling people to take action. SEJA is using this to gather community concerns, advocate for change, and apply for increased funding. Sci4Ga on WABE! – Science for Georgia

Benefit to Communities

• Contextualized, relevant, concise, and actionable information – empowering change and action
• True partnership: Sci4Ga’s proven process where community members are included every step of the process
• Access to science expertise in data analytics, public health, and plain-language communication.
• All engagements include staff time to work with communities, creating and printing collateral (flyers, leave-behinds, website), and expenses for hosting a community meeting to disseminate results. 

Benefit to Students and Academic Institutions

• Enable students to plug into real-world data analytics problems
  • Their research and analysis will be utilized right away
  • Gain valuable work-force skills such as project management, teamwork, cross-silo communication, and customer awareness.
• Enable researchers to more thoroughly understand community needs.
• Enable universities and colleges to establish community links that last beyond just one researcher or one grant. 

Benefit to Sponsors

• Access to high-quality, local, students who are interested in making an impact and trained on real-world data
• Demonstrate to your customers that you are interested in building healthy, resilient, local communities.