Look at patterns among indicators in your county. Unemployment and poverty are obviously related. Perhaps less obvious are the relationships among teen births, maternal smoking, low birth weight and infant mortality. Talk with people in your community to help uncover the links among indicators and talk with people from other counties that seem to be making more progress, to find out what they are doing. Perhaps their efforts can be duplicated in your county.
Numerical data provide important information, but they are just one type of information.
The numbers must be understood in relation to what is actually happening in your community. Finding Your 2000 County Profile 2000 State Profile. Click on the name of the county profile that you wish to examine. This will take you directly to that profile. The profiles are in pdf format and may be downloaded.