Presentations also dealt with the role of foundations, which are an important part of the civic puzzle of progressing toward healthier communities. Finally, the establishment of a state-level indicators project was proposed as an important next step. To serve the goal of progress toward healthy communities, community indicators must be meaningful to both their users and producers. To establish credibility, they must also pass expert critique. Community indicators are most effective when they arise from collaboration among a broad spectrum of community stakeholders, including residents and business and governmental leaders, and when stakeholders are committed to making progress toward a healthier community.
Indicators result in action when they help shape policy discussions and decisionmaking.
Ultimately, indicators need to move beyond the merely descriptive to the prescriptive in order to identify future policy directions and truly effect change. If you don't have a PDF viewer download Adobe Acrobat now.