An Eastern Washington University institute that developed a Web-based data bank that tracks indicators about the Spokane area is using its expertise to compile similar trend information for other Inland Northwest communities. It launched two such data banks in the past year and late last month learned it had landed federal funding to develop at least two more.

EWU's Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis created the Community Indicators of Spokane site in fall 2006. The site, which was developed with help from the Inland Northwest Community Foundation and now is funded by EWU, includes data on roughly 450 indicators and benchmarks, ranging from demographic and economic to health, education, and environment.

The information is free to anyone at www.communityindicators.ewu.edu.

Since then, the institute has developed a similar site, called Walla Walla Trends, for the Port of Walla Walla, and also one called Chelan Douglas Trends, for a collaboration of counties and cities in north-central Washington, says Patrick Jones, the institute's executive director. The latter site debuted last November. In addition, the institute is working on a separate project in Walla Walla that will create a scorecard of community indicators for a group there.

Now, says Jones, the institute has learned it has secured a $190,000 federal grant that will enable it to create at least two more sites for smaller communities in the region.

The institute already is talking with government and economic-development leaders in Stevens, Pend Oreille, and Ferry counties about such a project, though it's unclear yet whether the community indicators data that would be developed for those counties under the grant would be organized on a single Web site or multiple ones, he says.

A second project is being considered for either Kootenai County, in North Idaho, or Grant County, in central Washington.

Work on at least one of those projects could get under way this summer, with a Web-site launch anticipated early next year, Jones says.

"Once the people in these communities see what this can do for them, they will be very excited," he says.

Jones says the Walla Walla Trends project came about after he did a presentation on the Spokane initiative for the port there two years ago. Rather than convening a series of community meetings to determine what data to include on the site, as was done in Spokane, the institute used the Spokane model and compiled as much information as it could about the Walla Walla market. That ended up being roughly 100 indicators, he says.

The institute charged the port $42,000 to compile the data and launch the site, and will be paid about $18,000 annually to keep the data fresh and publish a quarterly newsletter based on the data.

"When you're done with the site, you can't just walk away," Jones says. "We make a promise that every week, if there is an update available, you'll see it on the site."

All of the Web sites created for the data banks were designed by EWU computer science students in the university's Center for Digital Media Design, he says.

The institute's recent contract to do a scorecard for another group there, called the Walla Walla Community Council, likely will include about 40 indicators that will track trends in Walla Walla and Columbia counties, as well as the nearby Milton-Freewater, Ore., area, Jones says. EWU will provide the data, and the organization there will decide how to score the communities. That $24,000 project is expected to be done by next fall, he says.

Jones says the project in the Wenatchee area was rewarding because of the level of community support it had there. Civic and government leaders from two counties and five cities were involved in the process, which became complex because the various jurisdictions wanted the site to break down data into individual counties and cities, he says. The effort was spearheaded by the Community Foundation of North Central Washington.

The project tracks about 420 indicators total, from Chelan and Douglas counties and the cities of Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Chelan, Leavenworth, and Cashmere, Jones says.

"That's a large data set," he says.

The communities raised the about $80,000 cost of compiling the data and will pay the institute nearly $20,000 a year to keep it current and publish the quarterly newsletters, Jones says.

On the upcoming projects, the institute will use the federal funding, which was secured by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., to pay for the initial process and compilation of data, but will ask the various communities to find a way to pay for the ongoing cost of keeping the data up to date, he says.

Jones says the northeast Washington counties of Stevens, Pend Oreille, and Ferry definitely will be included in one of the two projects on which the institute will embark this year, though it's unclear whether their data will be compiled and presented jointly or separately. The two potential candidates for the other project, Kootenai and Grant counties, both would be interesting, he says—Kootenai because of its proximity to and impact on the Spokane market, and Grant because of its growth and vibrancy.

Other areas the institute would like to look at are the Yakima and Ellensburg areas, and perhaps individual Indian reservations, Jones says.