How sharing data could help bring Nashville residents out of poverty

It's one of Nashville's defining social problems: so many people in this thriving metropolis earn a salary near the poverty line, and struggle to afford the basics. 

How to help them achieve better social and economic conditions is far less clear.

More than 2,000 nonprofit organizations, not including churches, serve area residents, but they and government agencies don't share enough data with each other or with researchers, according to leaders who spoke Monday at a social-mobility forum. 

“If we could see the needs, and see the resources available, we would see the gaps. We would see the duplication, and we would be able to understand a lot," said Tari Hughes, CEO of the Center for Nonprofit Management. "But it is going to take coming together and building the trust.”

Hughes and others spoke at the “Community Working Together” forum hosted by Metro Social Services. The forum at the West End Community Church focused on "21st century" approaches to social mobility.

Garrett Harper, a Metro Social Services researcher, said Nashville social service providers could apply some of the same techniques used by social media giants, e-commerce companies and others who harness consumer data. Nonprofits and governments could identify patterns, he said, and use predictive analytics to forecast trends and events.

One trend highlighted was the lack of economic mobility in Nashville. Out of 2,700 counties in the U.S., Harper said, Davidson County ranked near the bottom on the share of people whose income exceeds their parents.

Carole Peterson from Uprise, a career development program, gave examples of data used to measure success. Program participants make $20,000 a year more on average, a year after they started the program, she said. Also, 72% were receiving food stamps when they began, compared with 9% after completing the program.

Tracking people through social service programs and sharing data among providers would help determine which programs work, and could help each participant, she said.

“When we are talking about poverty alleviation efforts there is so much that is being done, and as ‘boots on the ground’ we don’t necessarily know what’s been done, what’s worked for this individual, what may not work for this individual. So I see this as a critical aspect of our growth in this area,” Peterson said.

The panelists identified some challenges in sharing data, particularly between sectors. 

“Local government may sometimes worry that an academic like myself is asking for data that might make them look bad," said Doug Perkins, a Vanderbilt University professor. "That’s not what we’re really after. We’re just wanting to work with local government to solve the problems, so gaining access to the data is important as well.”

Perkins suggested local universities form an interdisciplinary consortium to study economic and other factors that affect social mobility, from environmental to infrastructure issues because there is "a wealth of researchers and students studying problems." 

Ken Chilton, a Tennessee State University professor, noted privacy issues when working with student data and mental health data, but said those can be overcome.

“We can perhaps create some type of task force on digital disruption for systemic poverty issues, or social mobility, or economic mobility,” he said.

Reach Mike Reicher at mreicher@tennessean.com or 615-259-8228 and on Twitter @mreicher.